BUFFALO meat traces were found in “beef” mince and barbecue “beef” cocktail grillers in a leading Cambridge retail store in East London.
They were among 19 mislabelled meat products sold by four top chainstore groups throughout the city .
Four meat products sold from local stores were among the 15 worst cases nationally of mislabelling discovered by Stellenbosch University’s meat science department, City Press reported.
The study found that nearly 60% of 139 products tested contained ingredients not on their labels, including donkey, water buffalo, goat and pork.
Spar was found to be selling burger patties, mince and smoked viennas with undeclared ingredients of pork, mutton and chicken. There was beef in their venison mince and beef and pork in their mutton grillers.
OK Foods had undeclared traces of water buffalo, pork, sheep and chicken in their beef grillers, and their mince.
Pick n Pay’s beef burgers contained mutton and chicken and their budget burgers had chicken traces, while their chicken sausage contained beef and mutton. Food Lovers did not declare pork and chicken in their sosatie wors, sausage or bulk beef mince.
Exclusive Foods in the Eastern Cape sold “beef” smoked viennas that were made from pork .
Yesterday, stores identified in the paper’s “meat scandal” batted queries from the Dispatch to their national or regional offices. Sparg’s Superspar e- mailed a media query to their Port Elizabeth distribution centre .
Shoprite Group declined to answer a query about its own local stores, while distancing itself from its franchise, OK Foods. Shoprite said : “We are not in a position to comment on the OK Foods products as we do not supply meat to any of our franchised stores. They are managed by independent owners and look after their own meat supply .”
Shoprite also quoted Dr Donna Cawthorn of the University of Stellenbosch, who conducted the research. She said the DNA screening method was very sensitive, could detect levels of a species as low as 0.01% and most of the cross-contamination was caused by shared equipment and utensils, and insufficient cleaning.
Pick n Pay head office said their marketing director was in a meeting all day and they would respond soon.
Fruit and Veg City Group said they would respond soon, but announced DNA testing on all meat and meat- related products as part of a national investigation by the Consumer Goods Council of SA to ensure proper disclosure of and labelling of ingredients, and “no presence of foreign species”.
The group said findings indicating “traces of donkey, goat and water buffalo in samples drawn from various South African retailers” led to the group implementing measures “to ensure all meat sold in its butcheries is legally procured from approved abattoirs and that foreign or unlabeled species are not present in any of the meat products sold by it”.
Consumer Fair national advocacy director Imraahn Ismail-Mukaddam called on the state to use its arsenal of regulations in the Consumer Protection Act, the Agricultural Product Standards Act, the Meat Safety Act, and import and tax evasion legislation, to “throw the book” at culprits, “including corporate retailers”.
He said: “C onsumers be vigilant and lobby their local political representatives to pursue these matters. Consumers will no longer tolerate this abuse.” He said mislabelling had serious implications for religious groups .
Parliament’s agriculture portfolio committee chairman Lulu Johnson called for harsher punitive measures against all those involved in the scandal, from butcher to retailer.
“Much as we call for food security in the country, we call for food safety for consumers.” Johnson called for the return of health inspectors.
EL’s meat among the worst
They were among 19 mislabelled meat products sold by four top chainstore groups throughout the city .
Four meat products sold from local stores were among the 15 worst cases nationally of mislabelling discovered by Stellenbosch University’s meat science department, City Press reported.
The study found that nearly 60% of 139 products tested contained ingredients not on their labels, including donkey, water buffalo, goat and pork.
Spar was found to be selling burger patties, mince and smoked viennas with undeclared ingredients of pork, mutton and chicken. There was beef in their venison mince and beef and pork in their mutton grillers.
OK Foods had undeclared traces of water buffalo, pork, sheep and chicken in their beef grillers, and their mince.
Pick n Pay’s beef burgers contained mutton and chicken and their budget burgers had chicken traces, while their chicken sausage contained beef and mutton. Food Lovers did not declare pork and chicken in their sosatie wors, sausage or bulk beef mince.
Exclusive Foods in the Eastern Cape sold “beef” smoked viennas that were made from pork .
Yesterday, stores identified in the paper’s “meat scandal” batted queries from the Dispatch to their national or regional offices. Sparg’s Superspar e- mailed a media query to their Port Elizabeth distribution centre .
Shoprite Group declined to answer a query about its own local stores, while distancing itself from its franchise, OK Foods. Shoprite said : “We are not in a position to comment on the OK Foods products as we do not supply meat to any of our franchised stores. They are managed by independent owners and look after their own meat supply .”
Shoprite also quoted Dr Donna Cawthorn of the University of Stellenbosch, who conducted the research. She said the DNA screening method was very sensitive, could detect levels of a species as low as 0.01% and most of the cross-contamination was caused by shared equipment and utensils, and insufficient cleaning.
Pick n Pay head office said their marketing director was in a meeting all day and they would respond soon.
Fruit and Veg City Group said they would respond soon, but announced DNA testing on all meat and meat- related products as part of a national investigation by the Consumer Goods Council of SA to ensure proper disclosure of and labelling of ingredients, and “no presence of foreign species”.
The group said findings indicating “traces of donkey, goat and water buffalo in samples drawn from various South African retailers” led to the group implementing measures “to ensure all meat sold in its butcheries is legally procured from approved abattoirs and that foreign or unlabeled species are not present in any of the meat products sold by it”.
Consumer Fair national advocacy director Imraahn Ismail-Mukaddam called on the state to use its arsenal of regulations in the Consumer Protection Act, the Agricultural Product Standards Act, the Meat Safety Act, and import and tax evasion legislation, to “throw the book” at culprits, “including corporate retailers”.
He said: “C onsumers be vigilant and lobby their local political representatives to pursue these matters. Consumers will no longer tolerate this abuse.” He said mislabelling had serious implications for religious groups .
Parliament’s agriculture portfolio committee chairman Lulu Johnson called for harsher punitive measures against all those involved in the scandal, from butcher to retailer.
“Much as we call for food security in the country, we call for food safety for consumers.” Johnson called for the return of health inspectors.
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