Poultry, beef and veal discovered in 'lamb' kebabs

Large amounts of poultry, beef and veal have been discovered in many lamb kebabs, a trading standards investigation has found.

West Sussex trading standards officers have been examining descriptions applied to kebabs at sellers across the county over recent months.

Officers found that eight out of 10 descriptions were wrong. Officials said most of the problems stemmed from local sellers not understanding the rules rather than deliberately setting out to deceive the public.

A spokesman said: "It was discovered that while many 'lamb' kebabs were mostly made from lamb, they also contained significant amounts of poultry, beef and even veal.

"If you buy a 'lamb' kebab or a 'doner kebab', advice from trading standards is that the only meat in it should be lamb unless the menu description tells you otherwise."

Sellers were given a warning and a chance to put matters right before being re-visited. The spokesman said that all corrected the descriptions applied.

Christine Field, the council's public protection cabinet member, said: "We want to remind traders that mis-describing food is a serious matter. What goes on sale for the public to eat has to be what has been described."

PA