A food importer and distributor has been fined after failing to ensure essential safety checks on potentially toxic foods it brought into the country.
Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court heard that Southall-based Al Noor Ltd failed to notify port authorities in Suffolk about a shipment of spice mixes from Pakistan it received in May 2022. In the absence of a proper declaration, it did not undergo the necessary checks.
The court heard that Al Noor Ltd, in Johnson Street, had intentionally obstructed authorised officers carrying out compliance checks. The company and its director Ahmed Akhlaq, of Parlaunt Road, Slough, pleaded guilty to the unauthorised removal of goods, and failing to comply with an official notice.
Al Noor Ltd was ordered to pay a fine, victim surcharge, and costs totalling £9,424, while Akhlaq was ordered to pay a total of £3,285, for the two offences, at the court hearing on Jan 3.
The magistrates heard that the shipment contained various spice mixes from Pakistan, classified as high risk because of potential contamination with aflatoxins – carcinogens linked to liver cancer, which are commonly associated with such products. Ingesting aflatoxins can be poisonous and life threatening.
As a result, shipments containing these imported spices must be sampled, and importers are required to notify ports of any incoming shipments. Al Noor Ltd, which regularly imports similar goods, failed to do so.
After the shipment was removed from the port without checks taking place, it officially became an illegally imported consignment of food, and therefore should have been destroyed.
After being notified by Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority, Ealing Council’s food safety team ordered the business to destroy the products within 60 days.
According to the reports, during a compliance check in July 2022, officers discovered that more than half of the shipment was missing and unaccounted for. The business was given 24 hours to locate and present the entire shipment.
A follow-up inspection days later revealed that boxes had been relabelled and repacked in what was considered to be an attempt to disguise the contents.
While the products were eventually disposed of, the business only did so 8 days after the 60-day deadline had expired.
Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, the council’s cabinet member for decent living incomes, said, “Obstructing food safety officers is a very serious offence and is not taken lightly by the council.
"The consequences for the business’ customers in this case could have been grave if council officers had not stepped in to enforce the law."
