A major British kebab maker has been hit with a huge financial fine after a court heard it deceived the public by selling “lamb” kebabs that actually consisted mostly of skin, fat and cheap meat, the BBC reports.Chelmsford, Essex-based Kismat Kebab Ltd was fined £500,000 (about Rs 6.3 crore). The company supplies takeaways and restaurants throughout the United Kingdom. Also ordered to pay £259,298 in prosecution costs.The case reached its conclusion after Kismat Kabab Limited pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation.The court heard that the fraud came to light following a regional sampling exercise undertaken in late 2020 and early 2021. Authorities checked the amount of meat in kebabs sold at local restaurants and takeaway shops, revealing that the Kismet products failed to match the description on their labels. Further laboratory tests confirmed that the actual meat content was “significantly different” from the advertised content.Lee Reynolds, prosecuting on behalf of Swansea Council, told the court that the company had “misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers” by manufacturing products with labels indicating specific amounts of meat, which the firm knew was false.“What was being described as lamb was actually skin and fat,” Reynolds said. “The company regularly and knowingly purchased goat, lamb fat, hides, mutton and ovine (sheep meat), and sold it as lamb once processed through its factory.”The investigation expanded to include the National Food Crime Unit and the Food Standards Agency. It emerged that Essex council had a long history of poor dealing through the Primary Authority Partnership, during which it received numerous complaints from other local authorities across England regarding labeling discrepancies. One audited example revealed that a lamb kebab claiming to contain 87% lamb contained only 51% meat and 40% fat.On May 20, 2021, Trading Standards officers raided Kismet’s Essex factory, uncovering serious deficiencies in production, packaging and labelling. Company invoices proved that very little genuine lamb was being purchased. Instead, the business was purchasing large quantities of skin, fat, goat and “low grade ‘meat’ products that cannot be called meat according to the legal definition.”In addition, the factory was making a mechanically derived meat mixture consisting primarily of “neck trim, mutton trim, water and ice”, which was counted among the official meat ingredients declared on the packaging.The first fine suggested was between £15 million and £24 million, but prosecutors said this range was “completely unrealistic”.The company now has a period of four years to repay the total financial penalty.