UK kebab maker fined £500,000 for mislabeling lamb

A major UK food supplier has been fined £500,000 for systematically selling mislabeled kebabs to takeaways and restaurants across the country. Kismet Kebabs Ltd, based in Chelmsford, Essex, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation and was ordered to pay an additional £259,298 in prosecution costs at Swansea Crown Court on Friday, June 6, 2026.

The court heard that products labeled as lamb kebabs were found to contain little to no lamb meat, instead consisting of a mixture of skin, fat, goat, mutton, turkey, and mechanically derived meat. Prosecutors described the activity as organized and planned dishonesty over a significant period, misleading wholesalers, retailers, and consumers.

The fraud was uncovered following a regional sampling exercise by Swansea Council's trading standards team in late 2020 and early 2021. Tests on kebabs from local establishments showed the meat content did not match the product labels. Further laboratory analysis confirmed significant discrepancies. In one cited example, a doner kebab advertised as containing 87 percent lamb was found to be only 51 percent meat and 40 percent fat.

This led to a multi-agency investigation involving...