Trading Standards has unearthed cases in which imported potatoes have been sold as British product following checks on 32 shops and stores in South Wales.

The labelling mix up was branded “the latest consumer scam uncovered by trading standards officers” in The Times.

But the British Potato Council (BPC), whose experts helped the UK watchdog complete its survey, has played down claims of a “potato fraud” made in the national press, and dismissed reports as “incorrect” and “unfair”.

The study identified problems, which ranged from mislabelling to quality standards, in eight samples, according to Trading Standards.

Two samples from national retailers were found to be Israeli potatoes labelled as British produce and two British-labelled samples from local retailers were found to be imports from Cyprus and Italy.

One sample had no packer identification and another had no markings to denote the variety.

A further two sample were pulled up on quality issues.

Stephen Hay, principal trading standards officer in Cardiff, said: “At this time of the year premium potatoes are just coming on to the market and we wanted to see what was happening. We found foreign potatoes being sold as British, but at this stage it is difficult to say if it is deliberate.

“It could be down to some misunderstanding and stores being lax with labels and notices.”

All the problems related to potatoes sold loose.

Trading Standards is continuing its investigations into two of the incidents.

BPC marketing manager Kathryn Race said the problems were isolated incidents. “Trading Standards have put this down to human error and, in the cases that have been concluded, they are satisfied that no malice or fraudulent behaviour took place,” she told FPJ.

“But while we don’t condone any mislabelling, it’s a shame when things get reported unfairly,” she added.

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