Food fraud: Fishy goings on at the chip shop?

By 26. september 2014Blog, Quality, Risk Management

16% of fish sold as cod or haddock in fish shops in the UK is actually a cheaper kind of fish. That was the rather concerning findings found by the consumer watchdog group Which? earlier this month.

They tested 45 samples of fish labelled as cod or haddock bought in chip shops in Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester, 15 from each city. In their press release published on their website they state that 5 of the samples from Glasgow were Whiting, a usually cheaper type of white fish. 2 of the cod samples from Manchester were actually haddock.

Apparently 49% of consumers buying take aways in the UK are not confident the meat/fish in their take away is what it should be. Which? think this is unacceptable and hope that the British government will implement all of the recommendations of the Elliott Review.

Let’s see what happens, although the government have said they accept all findings of the report and say there will be the creation of a food crime unit within the Food Standards Agency, an interview on Farming Today about the matter with Professor Chris Elliott earlier this month suggests there will not be additional money allocated for such a unit. He said he is concerned as funding for some of the groups that would be responsible for such a unit have already been “cut to the bone”.

Click here to read the press release on the Which? website.