The latest meat fraud outrage is exaggerated. But the risk isn’t

Another day, another meat scandal. This time, the Mirror claims consumers are being ripped off by ‘dodgy meat’, with ‘one in five meat products containing animal not stated on the label’.

At first glance, that’s pretty damning. But a closer look at the data reveals that, while it’s of course unacceptable that this sort of meat fraud is still going on, it’s not nearly as prevalent as the Mirror article suggests.

The article is based on FSA data acquired through an FOI request, which revealed local authorities conducted 69 tests on meat products between June 2018 and May 2019, and 12 were found to be contaminated with “unspecified meat or DNA species not declared on the label”.

According to the Mirror, “retailers, ­restaurants and caterers had meat products that were not properly labelled”, including “ham that contained no ham, lamb doner kebabs without a trace of lamb and pork sausages that also had lamb and beef in them”.

What the Mirror article fails to point out, though, is that local authority testing of meat products is not conducted on a random or representative basis. It’s targeted at businesses where mislabelling is deemed ‘more likely’.

So the findings don’t reflect the meat industry as a whole, but rather the small number of businesses already suspected of fraudulent or non-compliant behaviour.

That’s an important distinction. Because it means the claim that ‘one in five meat products contain animal not stated on the label’ is simply not true.

Which is not to say we shouldn’t be worried. As Which? strategic policy adviser Sue Davies pointed out to the Mirror, it is concerning that six years on from horsegate, consumers are still being misled about meat.

At the moment, it’s difficult to establish exactly how big the problem of meat fraud or labelling non-compliance is in the UK. The FSA doesn’t hold all the data on the targeted local authority testing, let alone data that would be more representative of the wider industry.

But the regulator is developing a new national sampling strategy, which should paint a better picture of the problem and help local authorities clamp down on the rogue businesses giving the rest of the industry a bad name.

In the meantime, retailers and suppliers should be redoubling efforts to ensure this sort of meat isn’t entering their supply chains. As cost pressures mount, Brexit uncertainty rages and local authority budgets are cut, the risk of food fraud is undoubtedly on the rise.

And there are only so many scandals shoppers will endure before more turn their back on meat and adopt a plant-based diet instead.