Takeaway restaurants are to face a new food testing regime, after the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that nearly a third of “lamb” takeaways contained a different meat.
The FSA found that 43 out of 145 samples of lamb takeaways tested, usually curries or kebabs, contained a different meat.
25 samples were found to contain beef, with others containing chicken and turkey, although no samples were found to contain horsemeat.
In response to these findings, local authorities are being tasked with testing 300 samples of lamb takeaways form May, and takeaway owners have been warned that they could be fined up to £5,000 for mislabelling food.
Andrew Rhodes, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA, said:
“Substitution of lamb for cheaper meats in takeaway food, as seen in our own data and the survey released today by Which?, is unacceptable and we are working closely with local authorities to ensure robust action is taken against any businesses misleading their customers.
Prosecutions have taken place against business owners for mislabelling lamb dishes, but the recurring nature of the problem shows there needs to be a renewed effort to tackle this problem. Clearly the message isn’t getting through to some businesses.”
This meat labelling scandal comes in the wake of last year’s horsemeat scandal where 17 different beef products were found to contain traces of horsemeat, forcing a number of supermarkets to withdraw products from their shelves.
Earlier this week, the FSA announced a new round of testing of beef products to check for horsemeat as ordered by the European Commission.
