DODGY FOOD is never appealing – and often it is not safe either. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has just published the results of its surveillance of food over the last six months of 2025.
The FSA carried out checks on 845 items of food on sale in big supermarkets, independent retailers and online sellers in the UK, targeting sales outlets where suspicions had been raised before as well as a potential risk existed. It then ran tests to find out if the foodstuffs were safe, accurately labelled – and contained what they claimed to have.
To be fair, most of the food the FSA tested was both safe and authentic, but three main areas of concern were found.
Dubai-style chocolate Dubai chocolate is a milk chocolate bar with a filling of pistachio, tahini and shredded kadayif pastry. The FSA tested 45 items described as Dubai-style cholcolate – and only one of them was found to be authentic. The FSA issued a customer warning about chocolate described as “Dubai-style” just before Christmas 2025. The problems were mainly labelling issues, including missing or incorrect use-by and best-before dates; ingredients not listed correctly; allergens not highlighted; and lack of UK importer details.
Goat meat The FSA tested 40 sample of meat being sold as “goat meat”. Half the samples contained only sheep; one contained a mixture of goat and sheep meat; and one contained only deer. The FSA alerted Local Authorities to the problem.
Slush-ice drinks Slushis contain glycerol (or glycerin) instead of sugar. This stop the slushi from freezing solid and gives it its syrupy, icy texture. However, glycerol can draw water into the bloodstream, which can be a serious health risk – particularly in young children. The FSA recommends that children under seven years of age should not consume slushis, and those aged seven to ten should not have more than one slushi per day. The FSA survey last year found that not all retailers were observing the safety guidelines or showing warnings in their shop. The FSA will carry out further monitoring this year.
Rebecca Sudworth, Director of Policy at the FSA, explained, “Our role is to make sure the food people buy is safe and what it says it is. We are reassured that the majority of samples tested for allergen compliance, authenticity and composition were satisfactory. Consumer safety is our biggest priority.”
●Read more about it: Read more stories about food