ONE OF East London’s most trusted and oldest chain stores, Cambridge OK Foods, has emphatically denied stuffing water buffalo into their BBQ beef cocktail grillers.
Owner Andreas Efstratiou said: “I don’t even know what a water buffalo looks like. I had to Google it. They are from India, Thailand and Malaysia.”
Meanwhile, his staff were “on a mission” tracking down the offending invoices. Early suspicions were that the traces of the Asian animal picked up by Stellenbosch University DNA researchers in the store’s lean and ordinary mince led them to an Eastern Cape abattoir, which he declined to name.
However,But he said the abattoir was “not in East London”. They believed a Durban supplier had supplied the boxed trimmings to the Eastern Cape abattoir.
He said the boxes of beef trimming (what remains after prime cuts have been removed) bought from the supplier had been discontinued. The store used about 400kg (20 x 20kg boxes) of beef trimming a week. “We’ are requesting certificates from all our meat suppliers confirming the origin of all meat products.”
The store, established in the 1960s, had a loyal following of 12.7-million visitors a year, especially consumers in Cambridge, and there was every reason to ensure the integrity and excellence of meat products. “The public and the press have every right to question and investigate meat products,” but stores also had the right to request transparency on how the tests were conducted, and for the test results to be published.
Efstatiou questioned researchers for not following normal procedures of allowing the store to retain an identical sample to that taken by researchers. He also said the “lean mince” allegedly tested on July 11 last year was actually not sold on that day.
He had raised these queries with the university researchers, but said the store was adopting a positive approach to the new labelling laws, and even made their own label for meat products which stated: “This product was manufactured in a facility that also processes beef, chicken, lamb, pork and venison. Although every precaution is taken, there may be traces of some of these in this product.”
“We do need to lift our game with labelling but it would be impossible to prevent miniscule DNA traces from animals and even humans being detected on any butchery blade or surface around the world, ” Efstatiou said.
He said his butcher, Vernon Newcombe, “the best in East London”, had taken the allegations “personally. He takes great pride in his work. We don’t sell low-grade stuff here.” Newcombe, however, said his “alarm” about a supplier abattoir was raised after a batch of vacuum-packed venison was actually warthog costing R14/kg while the store was being billed for kudu at R26.90/kg.
“I stopped buying from the guy,” he said.
Cosatu accused four leading retailers of assuring consumers in March that their meat products and labels could be trusted, but then tests published in the weekend had proved them wrong.
“This means either that they had not bothered to test the products, or had tested them and were lying about the results. Capitalism is barbaric,” said Cosatu’s Patrick Craven. He said it was likely that some of the DNA found in meat products was human because abattoir workers frequently “cut themselves during production”.
Cosatu called for a National Con sumer Commission review of the meat products, saying people had a right to know be informed if the meat they are consuming is mixed with other kinds of products. —
Cambridge store in uproar over ‘Asian water buffalo’ wors grillers
Owner Andreas Efstratiou said: “I don’t even know what a water buffalo looks like. I had to Google it. They are from India, Thailand and Malaysia.”
Meanwhile, his staff were “on a mission” tracking down the offending invoices. Early suspicions were that the traces of the Asian animal picked up by Stellenbosch University DNA researchers in the store’s lean and ordinary mince led them to an Eastern Cape abattoir, which he declined to name.
However,But he said the abattoir was “not in East London”. They believed a Durban supplier had supplied the boxed trimmings to the Eastern Cape abattoir.
He said the boxes of beef trimming (what remains after prime cuts have been removed) bought from the supplier had been discontinued. The store used about 400kg (20 x 20kg boxes) of beef trimming a week. “We’ are requesting certificates from all our meat suppliers confirming the origin of all meat products.”
The store, established in the 1960s, had a loyal following of 12.7-million visitors a year, especially consumers in Cambridge, and there was every reason to ensure the integrity and excellence of meat products. “The public and the press have every right to question and investigate meat products,” but stores also had the right to request transparency on how the tests were conducted, and for the test results to be published.
Efstatiou questioned researchers for not following normal procedures of allowing the store to retain an identical sample to that taken by researchers. He also said the “lean mince” allegedly tested on July 11 last year was actually not sold on that day.
He had raised these queries with the university researchers, but said the store was adopting a positive approach to the new labelling laws, and even made their own label for meat products which stated: “This product was manufactured in a facility that also processes beef, chicken, lamb, pork and venison. Although every precaution is taken, there may be traces of some of these in this product.”
“We do need to lift our game with labelling but it would be impossible to prevent miniscule DNA traces from animals and even humans being detected on any butchery blade or surface around the world, ” Efstatiou said.
He said his butcher, Vernon Newcombe, “the best in East London”, had taken the allegations “personally. He takes great pride in his work. We don’t sell low-grade stuff here.” Newcombe, however, said his “alarm” about a supplier abattoir was raised after a batch of vacuum-packed venison was actually warthog costing R14/kg while the store was being billed for kudu at R26.90/kg.
“I stopped buying from the guy,” he said.
Cosatu accused four leading retailers of assuring consumers in March that their meat products and labels could be trusted, but then tests published in the weekend had proved them wrong.
“This means either that they had not bothered to test the products, or had tested them and were lying about the results. Capitalism is barbaric,” said Cosatu’s Patrick Craven. He said it was likely that some of the DNA found in meat products was human because abattoir workers frequently “cut themselves during production”.
Cosatu called for a National Con sumer Commission review of the meat products, saying people had a right to know be informed if the meat they are consuming is mixed with other kinds of products. —
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