“Home made” foods that weren’t

The York Council, has published a list of the cons some food retailers attempted during last year.

The Council says, “During food standards inspections and sampling exercises carried out between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2013 the following incidents of mis-description have been found:

• Use of  undeclared genetically modified foods (vegetable oil) 9
• Homemade/home  cooked foods that weren’t 7
• Parmesan & Feta cheese 6
• Scampi/Crab containing white fish/Surimi 5
• Meat products containing additional types of undeclared meat 5
• Cheaper brands of food/drink being used 4
• Cheese analogue/substitute used instead of cheese 4
• Spring water used instead “mineral water” 3
• Incorrect origin or other claim 3
• Turkey ham being used instead of ham (ie pork) 2
• Margarine used instead of butter 2
• Cod substituted with haddock/Pangasius 2
• Substitution of dairy cream with non-dairy product 1
• Frozen food described as “fresh” 1

There were also 18 incidences of under strength spirits found during inspections/sampling. However these may not be “deliberate” as they appeared to be due to the use of open top pourers on bottles, which led to evaporation of the alcohol rather than eg “watering” of spirits”.