Home / Crime and Justice / Millions Eat Fake Kebabs in Meat Scandal
Millions Eat Fake Kebabs in Meat Scandal
3 Jul
Summary
- Millions unknowingly consumed goat meat disguised as lamb.
- Kismet Kebabs fined £500,000 for extensive food fraud.
- Scandal echoes 2013 horsemeat crisis in scale and deception.
A significant food fraud has been uncovered involving Kismet Kebabs, a major UK doner meat producer, which allegedly sold millions of kebabs containing goat, skin, and fat as lamb. The company was fined £500,000 after admitting to the fraud, which investigators believe mirrors the scale of the 2013 horsemeat scandal. Trading standards officers in Swansea initiated the investigation in 2020 and 2021 when DNA tests on doner meat from local takeaways showed significantly less lamb than advertised.
Raids on Kismet's factory in Essex in May 2021 revealed no lamb deliveries, only large quantities of goat, fat, skin, and mutton. Recipe cards confirmed the absence of lamb meat in some products. Despite advertising kebabs as up to 87% lamb, some samples were found to be 40% animal fat. Kismet Kebabs reportedly profited £6 million from this deception over several years.
