Food scams break a sacred trust with consumers

If you ordered lamb on a menu and it made a point that it was from a farm in Hampshire, that is exactly what you would expect.

And you would be surprised to discover it was actually from New Zealand.

But it is a discovery made recently – among others – by local authorities. And, more worryingly for Welsh farmers, they also discovered in one area that about half the lamb sold as Welsh didn’t actually come from Wales.

In a day and age when the provenance and authenticity of food is a major selling point, the temptation to “add value” by being less than truthful about its origins must be increasing.

And while the CLA says this “forgery” is the ultimate compliment, for local food, there are wider, more worrying factors. Like many of the other issues which have beset farming, it takes only one person or organisation to bring everyone else down almost overnight.

Many consumers are highly sensitive about where their food comes from, while for some chefs, embracing local food with a high degree of provenance is a career-making move.

All of them trust farmers and their food suppliers – whether retailers, wholesalers or specialist companies – to provide them with exactly what they have ordered. And all consumers expect restaurants, hotels and pubs to tell the truth about where their food is from – especially if they make a point of that.

Breaking that trust is easily done, but very, very difficult to regain. For that to remain, everyone in the food chain has to play their part, from field to plate.

It is good news that at least the work is being done and these issues are being discovered. But the scam needs to stop now – forgery is a criminal act, and not fair on anyone who takes the time and effort to produce the original item.