Counterfeit cranberry sauce supplier is sentenced

Two West Yorkshire brothers who sold thousands of jars of counterfeit cranberry sauce have been sentenced for breaching trademark and food hygiene laws.

At Leeds Crown Court this week, Irfan Hanif Patel of Ravensthorpe Road, Dewsbury was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid work in the community having pleaded guilty to offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and food hygiene offences, including failing to register a food business.

His brother, Mohammed Patel of Thornhill Street, Dewsbury was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work in the community having pleaded guilty to the same offences.

In December 2020 West Yorkshire Trading Standards and Kirklees Council’s Environmental Health Team received intelligence about the supply of counterfeit Abel and Cole cranberry sauce.

The counterfeit sauce was purchased by Irfan Patel and was supplied to his brother Mohammed Patel, the director of Stock Up Direct Ltd.

Stock Up Direct supplied over 1,000 jars to a wholesaler who then supplied to various food businesses around the country.

Neither brother had registered the businesses with the council – therefore, they were trading illegally.

Officers from West Yorkshire Trading Standards and the council’s Food Safety Team visited food businesses supplied in Kirklees and obtained the jars for further examination.

Officers visited Irfan’s business in Bretton Park Way, Dewsbury. Irfan said the stock was bought from another trader, who visited the premises and produced an invoice for a business which was untraceable.

The officers also visited the company Stock Up Direct. Mohammed Patel revealed he had never seen any stock that went through the company. The company was created as a side business for his brother, and he was involved in other larger businesses.

The inspection of the Bretton Park Way premises revealed a warehouse with large quantities of food items. Irfan Patel could not provide documentation to demonstrate legal provenance of the foods so all food items were detained.

Having failed to demonstrate the items were from lawful sources, council Food Safety officers seized the food and applied to Kirklees Magistrates’ Court for a Food Condemnation Order in February 2021.

The order was granted and all seized food items were destroyed.

A sample of the suspected counterfeit sauce was submitted to the Public Analyst, who concluded the sauce was not a genuine Abel and Cole product. The trademark representative for Abel and Cole confirmed the sauce bore a label which was a copy of the Abel and Cole registered trademark.

In a joint statement, Trading Standards manager, David Stover and Councillor Naheed Mather, cabinet member for culture and greener Kirklees at Kirklees Council said: “Businesses need to ensure they are registered with the local authority 28 days before beginning to operate.

“They must have a traceability system in place and to only purchase stock they believe is legitimate by conducting checks.

“Supplying food that is counterfeit could contain anything which, in turn makes the label misleading and can cause serious harm to consumers. The cranberry sauce was also supplied near Christmas when demand is high, posing serious risk.”