Illegal sweets, cereal, snacks and drinks that were on sale at an American-style candy store on Oxford Street are due to be incinerated because they contain potentially harmful ingredients banned in the UK.
More than 600 items, including Lucky Charms, Cheetos, Takis, KitKats, Lion Bars, Fanta cans and Jolly Ranchers, were seized in a raid by Westminster Council’s environmental health team
Several chocolate bars on sale at the shop were not labelled in English, meaning consumers were unable to check the products for ingredients, sell by dates or allergens.
A total of 676 items valued at more than £2,850 were confiscated in the raid on September 6 and have now been sent to be incinerated.
The same shop was found to be selling carcinogenic American sweets back in February, said Westminster Council.
During that previous raid, the shop was previously found to be selling Swedish Fish and Hot Tamales sweets, which are banned in the UK due to the impact their additive ingredients can have on children. In the last three months alone, 2,374 non-compliant products have been destroyed from the premises.
Following the recent seizure, council staff attended Westminster Magistrates Court on October 1, where the destruction of goods was ordered and £3,110.25 was awarded. The business is also required to pay for the destruction.
Leader of Westminster City Council, Cllr Adam Hug, said: “We are continuing to make the lives of unscrupulous traders a nightmare through regular enforcement action and putting pressure on landlords. This collection of illegal sweets was enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine.
“There are more raids coming in the next few weeks, so I hope traders who seem happy to sell illegal goods to children are ready for a fright.”
The raids come part of a wider crackdown on US-style sweet shops that have appeared on Oxford Street in recent years.
