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Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Friday, 31 October 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 4 November 2025. It was answered by Ashley Dalton (Labour) on Monday, 10 November 2025 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.


Meat: Smuggling

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what quantity of illegal meat was seized from (a) shops and (b) restaurants in England in each of the last five years.

Answer

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not hold United Kingdom-wide local authority seizure data centrally. This data is held by individual local authorities.

Where a non-compliant product, for example illegal meat, is identified in-land, the FSA works closely with local authority partners. These partners are responsible for this aspect of enforcement and for the removal of non-compliant products from potential sale in the UK market. This work is supported by the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit, in conjunction with wider FSA teams.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
86997
Session
2024-26
Transferred
Yes
Subjects
Meat Shops Restaurants Smuggling Seized articles
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk