A new free phone line has been created by the UK’s food safety watchdog to help people report suspected food fraud.

Food fraud is a blanket term used by governing agencies to describe all types of food-related crime.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says this often involves selling food or drink that isn’t what it says it is, or goods that include cheaper ingredients than the ones listed on the label.

The watchdog has estimated that food fraud could be costing consumers, businesses and the government between £410m and £1.96bn per year.

Its new free phone number is aimed at helping people working in the food industry share their concerns about potential food crimes “freely and confidentially”.

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It comes after UK meat products supplier Loscoe Chilled Foods went into administration at the end of March amid a criminal probe into the alleged mislabelling of the company’s products.

Three arrests were made after supermarket chain Booths received pre-packaged sliced meats and deli products from Loscoe that were allegedly sourced from South America and Europe, but labelled as British.

FSA chief executive Emily Miles said: “The UK has some of the safest and most authentic food in the world, but there will always be a threat of criminality in the food system.

“Food businesses are the first and most important line of defence and we want to support them. This is one of the reasons why we launched a working group to explore together whether some areas of our collective response to food crime can be improved.

“Together, we’re making it easier to share intelligence and information by helping people who work in the food system to share their concerns with us freely and confidentially.

“Our research suggests that for businesses and consumers feeling the financial strain, the cost of food crime still matters.”

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Helen Sisson, director and co-chair of the Food Industry Intelligence Network, added: “We are pleased to be taking action with the FSA and our partners in the food industry to strengthen the way we can prevent food crime in our supply chains.

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“Cooperation and communication between every part of the food system is vital to protect the public and the global reputation of UK food,” Ms Sisson added.

Anyone who suspects food fraud can report it to ‘Food Crime Confidential’ on food.gov.uk or by phoning 0800 028 1180 (0207 276 8787 for non-UK mobiles and calls).

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