A case of who dares wins in the war on food crime
ALL jokes of burnt meringues aside, food crime is a serious issue – a fact I admit I hadn’t realised until the launch of the UK’s first dedicated food crime hotline in Edinburgh. Separate figures for Scotland aren’t available but across the UK it’s estimated to be costing the industry £1.2 billion annually. And the brouhaha around the horsegate scandal of 2013 doesn’t appear to have stopped it: food crime remains relatively undetected and unreported.
Sheep rustling has long been a problem in rural Scotland, but it’s recently been joined by cattle rustling and, just last week, there were reports of duck and even lobster rustling too.
Animals may be slaughtered illegally and their meat augmented with dodgy stuff from illegal sources, then passed off as top-quality Scotch. Selling shellfish from beds prohibited because of E-coli levels, and lying about their geographic origin; augmenting vodka with methanol; and passing off cheap whiting as top quality haddock are just some real examples. Expensive spices are also being adulterated to make them cheaper or to satisfy demand when crop volumes are down.
It’s a measure of just what a threat such activity poses to human health (and the reputation of Scotland’s worldclass natural larder) that the Scottish government, Police Scotland, Cosla, the National Farmers Union, the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Scottish Food and Drink Federation, the Scotch Whisky Association, Quality Meat Scotland and the director of fisheries at Marine Scotland were in attendance alongside Food Standards Scotland and Crimestoppers.
The new hotline is a 24/7 free facility designed to encourage consumers and food industry employees to whistleblow in confidence if they suspect that food or drink has been deliberately adulterated, mislabelled, substituted with other ingredients, or illegally procured. It’s been hailed as a “significant milestone” in building up intelligence of what crimes are being committed and where.
Operated by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) and specially trained existing CrimeStoppers staff, it will allow callers to report anonymously.
Although it’s the only such hotline in the UK, I understand information gathered in Scotland will be shared across the UK, Europe and partner states via Europol. The Crimestoppers CEO praised “trailblazing” Scotland for being the first to take the initiative.
Information gathered could lead to prosecution and even imprisonment. As I understand it, that there’s a reasonable chance that somebody involved in food crime is also involved in other criminal activity. Some food businesses are believed to have links to organised crime groups whose main activity is not in itself food crime. Food service, for example, can provide opportunities to launder the proceeds of other criminality. Other food sectors can offer a legitimate front to activities such as smuggling of contraband.
So food criminals can be prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime act, or lead police to bigger issues and prosecution under Serious and Organised Crime legislation. People could go to prison for this.
The big hurdle will be getting people – including employees – to lift the phone and feed information into the system. Crimestoppers’ research shows that 99 per cent of people want a guarantee of anonymity. That is what this new hotline is providing. It’s a case of who dares wins.
‘‘ The new hotline is a 24/7 free facility designed to encourage consumers and food industry employees to whistleblow in confidence