A Luton wholesaler rewrapped cheap chocolate as Wonka bars — mice in the warehouse

The director of Luton wholesale business SP Wholesale Limited has been fined for selling fake Wonka chocolate bars around the UK, in a case Luton Council publicised in September 2024. Mayank Soneji, 37, pleaded guilty to food safety and trademark offences on 3 September; he was fined £5,265 and the company was ordered to pay £5,824.

During a March 2022 hygiene inspection at the company's unit on the Britannia Estate, Leagrave Road, an environmental health officer saw staff removing outer wrappers from cheap imported chocolate bars and replacing them with Wonka Bar wrappers. The warehouse itself was unhygienic and unclean, with mice and pigeons in the unit. The chocolate also contained allergens — peanuts and almonds — that were never listed on the packaging, the label carried a fake address, and Ferrero Group, the trademark holder, had given no permission for the wrappers.

Paperwork showed the fake Wonka Bars were being supplied to shops across the UK, forcing a nationwide product recall. The council's corporate director for inclusive economy, Gerard McCleave, said Soneji had shown 'a complete disregard for the safety of his customers' and that the sentencing sent a message that selling counterfeit goods would not be tolerated.

£5,265 fine for director Mayank Soneji, £5,824 for the company, plus a nationwide product recall across UK shops.

The rewrapping erased the only place allergen information could live, on a product containing peanuts and almonds.

The operation was caught mid-shift: officers watched staff swapping wrappers during a hygiene inspection.

Paperwork proved nationwide distribution to shops across the UK, making the recall's scale unmanageable.

The label's address was fake, so even the counterfeit trail pointed nowhere.

Counterfeit packaging isn't just a trademark problem — the real product behind the fake label carries whatever risks the real label would have declared.

The prosecution closed in September 2024 with guilty pleas and fines. A shop owner in Powys had been fined the year before for selling counterfeit Wonka bars, which have been found on sale across the UK.