Loscoe: Three arrested in fake British beef investigation

Three people have been arrested as part of an investigation into a food factory allegedly supplying beef wrongly labelled as British to a supermarket.

The arrests were made at Loscoe Chilled Foods, near Heanor, on Wednesday, the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) said.

An investigation into how Booths supermarket was supplied with products that were allegedly sourced from South America and Europe is ongoing.

The suspects have been released under investigation.

Derbyshire Police, Derbyshire County Council and the NFCU made an unannounced visit to the Heanor Road factory in Derbyshire on Wednesday.

Darren Davies, head of the NFCU, added: "The investigation involves meat allegedly misrepresented as being British. We take food fraud very seriously and are acting urgently to protect the consumer."

The products in question were pre-packed sliced meats and deli products.

Booths has previously said it was made aware of the potential issues in 2021.

The retailer said all relevant products were removed from sale and ceased trading with the supplier as soon as it was made aware of the potential issues. It has emphasised that it is not under investigation.

Booths, which has 30 stores across Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Cheshire, prides itself on selling 100% British beef.

Loscoe Chilled Foods was unavailable for comment.

The company's website, which appeared to have been stripped of general information including contact details, said Loscoe Chilled Foods "produce a full range of superior quality meat products".

It added: "We have 100 years of experience under our belts supplying some of the biggest retailers in the UK and EU."

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