Four people have appeared in court charged with fraudulently selling smoked salmon to leading supermarkets.
The defendants, who were all connected to the now-defunct North Yorkshire company Bleikers, were charged following a lengthy investigation by the Food Standards Agency.
All four have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit fraud by false representation.
It is alleged that salmon products supplied by Bleiker’s Smoke House Ltd were described as Scottish salmon when the product consisted in full or part of Norwegian salmon.
Alexander Irvine, Dana Timsa, Alex McMorran, and Charles Andrew are alleged to have committed the offence between August 20, 2021, and March 30, 2022.
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Judge Francis Laird KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, set a provisional trial date to take place on June 28, 2027.
Bleiker’s Smoke House, which was based at Leeming Bar Business Park, employed 86 staff and supplied fish products to major UK supermarkets including Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose before its collapse in 2022.
All four defendants Irvine, 62, of Hornbeam Drive, Grimsby, 36-year-old Timsa, of Meadowfields, Morton On Swale, Northallerton, 61-year-old McMorran, of Central Avenue, Gretna, and Andrew, 59, of Main Street, Kirby Malzeard, Ripon, were released on bail.
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