The firm had contracts to supply retailers, Tesco and Asda with the Jamaican sauce but was unable to fulfil them when its distribution contract was ended.
To fulfil its supermarket contracts, the firm engaged an own-label sauce producer to make bottles of the sauce. But the fraud was discovered when a customer complained to the Jamaican manufacturer in October 2009 after detecting an off-taste in the sauce.
Simon Legg, service manager for consumer and business protection at Brent and Harrow Trading Standards, told Food Manufacture.co.uk: “It shows the scale people will go to in order to make money and keep their reputation intact.”
Suspicious Asda customer
His colleague, Bill Bilon, head of consumer and business protection, added: “Had a suspicious ASDA customer not realised something was wrong and contacted the manufacturer in Jamaica, this scam may have never come to light.
“I am amazed that a company of Wanis’s size and reputation was prepared to go to these lengths to deceive members of the public and two of the biggest national supermarket chains in this country.”
The fake Pickapeppa sauces were on sale at branches of Tesco and Aada for about a year.
It was unclear when the firm’s supply of genuine Pickapeppa ran out, but manufacturing of the counterfeit sauce started in October 2008, said Legg.
Wanis had commissioned Eastern Country Foods, a producer of own-label sauces and condiments, to produce counterfeit Pickapeppa Sauce at Eastern’s facility in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Eastern was not prosecuted in the case. Legg said: “We were never able to prove that they had any involvement in the mischief.”
No one from Eastern was available for comment.
Tougher penalty
Legg described the sentence as “satisfactory”, but added he would have prefered a tougher sentence. “Personally, I would have expected a slightly higher penalty but we did the best with the case and it was up to the judge to decide a penalty that fit the crime,” he said.
Wanis, which reported turnover of £43M in 2009, was ordered to pay more than £100,000 in fines and costs at Harrow Crown Court on April 4.
Two of its directors were also sentenced to a total of 140 hours of unpaid work for violating the Trade Marks Act.
The firm declined to comment on the ruling.
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