Ryan Thompson and Lidia Iancu receive Award at House of Lords ceremony as part of a multi-agency team in a major food safety operation

A multi-agency group of officers and legal specialists won the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Megan Lee Hero Award at the CTSI Hero Awards. The awards ceremony took place at the House of Lords on the 2nd December 2025.

The CTSI Megan Lee Hero Award was created in 2023 in memory of 15-year-old Megan Lee, who suffered irreversible brain damage and died after being served food containing undisclosed allergens in 2016. The award recognises individuals or teams that have carried out outstanding work to protect the public from serious food safety breaches.

This year’s winners were responsible for Operation Bantam, a complex investigation into the fraudulent supply of meat products unfit for human consumption. The case uncovered a conspiracy to divert Category 3 material, which is restricted to pet food use, back into the human food chain.

The investigation began when the London Borough of Southwark’s Food Safety team discovered an illegal meat cutting operation and seized two tonnes of chicken and meat products. Evidence from the site led the National Food Crime Unit to pursue the wider conspiracy. With support from Heart of the South West Trading Standards, Somerset Environmental Health and Food Safety Service and the Animal and Plant Health Agency, investigators carried out extensive enquiries including phone data analysis and cell site triangulation.

Southwark’s Legal Services team then took the case forward, securing convictions following a detailed prosecution presented in court by Ryan Thompson and Lidia Iancu from Drystone Chambers. The operation demonstrated close cooperation between multiple agencies and a shared determination to protect public health and the integrity of the food chain.

Information provided by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.