A JUDGE has told a fast food takeaway owner who sold Vietnamese catfish as cod he was cheating the British public out of their staple dish.

Evesham takeaway owner Mustafa Kilicaslan told Worcester Magistrates Court the catfish, also known as panga, he had not intentionally misled his customers.

But District Judge Bruce Morgan said: “Cod and chips has been a staple diet of the British people for over 100 years. I regard it as a mean offence for trying to cheat the British public for your personal gain. I don’t accept it wasn’t done on purpose, it was definitely planned.“ Rebecca Heath bought four portions of fish and chips from Marco’s Pizza in Bridge Street, in June 2009. But when she got the food home her children complained that the fish tasted strange, was “mushy, and unusually off white in colour.

Miss Heath took it back to the shop but was told by staff there was nothing they could do, so she froze the food and reported it to Trading Standards, now known as Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

A month later officers bought two portions of what was advertised as cod and chips from the same shop, and found it to be catfish.

The court heard the catfish fillet – pangasius hypopthalmus – costs £5 per kg, where as cod costs £12 per kg.

Heather Williamson, prosecuting for Worcestershire Regulatory Services, said it had taken many months to establish and find who owned the shop, after initially being told that a worker Engin Husan owned it.

Kilicaslan, aged 36 of Bridge Street, Evesham, admitted two counts of selling the fish contrary to the Food Safety Act and also falsely advertising the food on the menu board.

Judge Morgan said trading standards officers had found boxes of catfish in the back waiting to be sold. “If it had not been for Miss Heath’s children being so astute as to have detected that they were eating something other than cod you would have continued to see Vietnamese catfish as cod and pocketed the extra money,” he said.

Kilicaslan was fined £3,000, ordered to pay £3,275 in costs and a £15 victims surcharge.

Speaking through a Turkish interpreter, Kilicaslan told the court he would cease trading at the premises from next month.

After the hearing, Steve Jordan, head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services said it was not an isolated incident.

Anyone who thinks they may have been sold food that has been mis-described should contact West Midlands Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.