He said invoices showed very little lamb was being bought by the company, which was instead buying a “large volume of skin, fat, goat” as well as “lower-grade ‘meat’ products that cannot be called meat as per the legal definition”.
The company was also producing mechanically derived meat made up predominantly of “neck trim, mutton trim, water and ice” which was then being counted to their product’s actual meat content declaration.
He said the company engaged in “organised, planned, unlawful activity” and “misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers”.
Reynolds added the sentencing guidelines for offences involving a firm the size of Kismet provided a range of fines between £15m and £24m, which he called “wholly unrealistic”.
Kismet Kebabs Ltd, of Chelmsford, had previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation when the case returned to court for sentencing.
Stuart Jessop, representing the firm, said Kismet had been established in 2008 and had run successfully for many years without issue, providing good products to customers throughout the country.