A company has been fined £36,000 after Pembrokeshire County Council Officers uncovered serious breaches of food allergen labelling requirements.
During a routine inspection at CKs Supermarket Ltd located at 7 Spring Gardens, Narberth, on July 24th 2024, Environmental Health Officers from the Council’s Food Safety and Standards Team identified multiple examples of non-compliance with allergen labelling requirements.
Three products, chosen at random for allergen compliance checks, were found to be incorrectly labelled and failed to appropriately declare all allergens in accordance with regulations.
Labelling concerns had previously been raised at both store level and Head Office, but this had failed to secure compliance with requirements and due to the serious potential consequence of inaccurate allergen labelling, formal action was taken by the Council.
All packaged foods must clearly list all ingredients in descending weight order, with allergens emphasised each time they appear, using bold, underlined, or capitalised text to ensure visibility and consumer safety.
This ensures that the 6% of the UK adult population suffering with food allergies and those with food sensitivities can make informed and safe food choices.
Clear and correct labelling of allergens is critically important to those sufferers for whom the consumption of even small quantities of allergens can prove fatal.
CK’s head office was responsible for producing the labels for instore bakery items, meaning the issue affected multiple locations.
Upon discovery at the Narberth store, Environmental Health Officers immediately contacted the company’s senior management, and the affected products were removed from sale.
The case was heard in Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday September 30th 2025.
Following early guilty pleas the Company was fined £12,000 for each of the three offences and ordered to pay £2,000 victim surcharge.
Costs totalling £2,849.95 were awarded to Pembrokeshire County Council.
Cllr Jacob Williams, Cabinet Member for Regulatory services said: “Food allergen labelling is a legal requirement to protect consumers, especially those with serious allergies, for whom even small quantities of a particular ingredient can be lethal.
“We welcome the company’s early guilty pleas and the court’s sentence, and hope the level of fines imposed remind all food businesses how important it is to ensure labelling is accurate and legally compliant.”
