The UK’s Food Standards Agency is to investigate claims from consumer group Which? that goat cheese in UK supermarkets has been fraudulently labelled.

A spokesperson for the body told just-food: “We take any suggestion of food fraud seriously and we will investigate with the relevant local authority any business supplying mislabelled products when we receive the details from Which?”

The consumer group said earlier this week it launched an investigation to examine the content of goat cheese in UK shops after a shortage of goat milk did not have an impact on the amount of product on shelf.

Which? enlisted Queen’s University Belfast’s Professor Chris Elliott to undertake the investigation.

Professor Elliot, who led the UK government’s review into food crime following the horsemeat scandal, tested 76 goats’ cheese samples. In six cases, half or more of the product was sheep’s cheese. Three of these contained more than 80% sheep’s cheese, three contained more than 50%, the watchdog revealed.

Which? said: “These results reinforce the need to strengthen checks to ensure people are really getting what they are paying for. We will be following up on our findings with the companies and Food Standards Agency.”

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