A Somerset animal by-products business has been ordered to pay more than £467,000 in fines, costs and confiscation orders, bringing to a close one of the UK’s most significant food fraud investigations.
Fear Animal Products Ltd was fined £132,000 and ordered to pay £150,000 in prosecution costs at the Central Criminal Court on 4 June 2026. Both sums must be paid within 12 months.
The company’s sole director, Anthony Fear, was separately ordered to pay £150,000 in costs within 12 months and £35,483.63 under the Proceeds of Crime Act within three months, taking the total financial penalties to £467,483.63.
The latest sentencing follows convictions secured in 2025 after a joint investigation by the Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) and Southwark Council.
The case began when officers discovered 1.9 tonnes of Category 3 animal by-products, including whole and cut chickens, lamb’s testicles and beef burgers, being processed for sale into the human food chain at an illegal meat cutting plant in London.
Investigators traced the animal by-products back to legitimate food businesses, which had sent the meat to Fear Animal Products in Somerset for manufacture into pet food or for safe disposal.
Under UK regulations, once meat is classified as an animal by-product, it is permanently excluded from the human food chain.
In August 2025, Anthony Fear was sentenced to 42 months’ imprisonment for conspiracy to defraud by placing food not fit for human consumption on the market and was disqualified from acting as a company director for six years.
Three other defendants also received custodial or suspended custodial sentences.
Commenting on the latest sentencing, Andrew Quinn, head of the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit, said the case demonstrated the agency’s determination to pursue both individuals and the companies that profit from food crime.
He said the financial penalties, totalling more than £467,000, should make it clear that “food crime does not pay” and serve as a deterrent to others.