Fishy menu labelling lands restaurant with £7,430 fine

Foyles restaurant in Glasbury-on-Wye has been fined £7,430 by Powys County Council for falsely describing its food.

Linda Dewan, a partner in Foyles, was convicted at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates' Court on 9 November for falsely describing the food offered on the restaurant's menus, website and social media in a prosecution led by the council's Trading Standards Service.

Trading standards acted on a complaint it received from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in April 2016 about concerns it had with the restaurant's menu displays, particularly the descriptions ‘Wye salmon' and ‘Wye trout'.

The court was told that salmon from the river Wye could not be sold legally and that when trading standards officers visited Foyles they found the salmon and trout products were from other sources, namely farm outlets. An 18-month investigation found other false descriptions used by the business.

Dewan pleaded guilty to four charges under the Food Safety Act and one charge under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 for falsely describing food at the restaurant.

The court fined Dewan £500 for each of the Food Safety Act charges, crediting her early plea and reducing the fine from £750 to £500. The court also imposed a £50 victim surcharge and ordered her to pay full prosecution costs of £5,380, bringing the fine and total costs to £7,430.

Councillor Jonathan Wilkinson, cabinet member for trading standards, said: "The provenance of the food we eat is increasingly important to consumers; it's vital that if food is described as locally sourced, consumers can purchase this with complete confidence."

Clive Jones, the council's professional lead for trading standards, community safety and emergency planning, added: "Businesses have to get their descriptions correct and must not mislead consumers by false descriptions, otherwise they could end up being in breach of important fair trading and food safety regulations."

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