FSA to test takeaways after lamb meals found to be mislabelled

43 out of 145 samples were found to contain other types of meat

Local authorities will begin testing takeaway meals in May (Getty )

Britain's Foods Standards Agency (FSA) is to begin testing lamb takeaway meals from restaurants across the UK after it found evidence that nearly a third contain cheaper substitutes such as beef and chicken.

The consumer watchdog said local authorities were being asked to test 300 samples from restaurants that sell takeaway meals and present their findings to the agency. The process will begin in May.

An FSA review of local authority sampling data from July to December 2013 found that 43 out of 145 samples of lamb takeaway meals were wrongly labelled. Instead, they contained meat including chicken and turkey – but no samples were found to contain horse meant.

The agency said mislabelling food could lead to fines of up to £5,000 and that businesses found to be deliberately misrepresenting their food products could face prosecution.

“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,” Andrew Rhodes, chief operating officer at the FSA, told the BBC.

“Clearly the message isn't getting through to some businesses.”

In January last year, traces of horse meat were found in beef products sold in British and Irish supermarkets.

On Monday the FSA confirmed details of a new round of tests to check beef products for horse meat contamination.

The tests have been ordered by the European Commission as a follow-up to the scandal. 125 samples will be taken by 24 local authorities across the UK.

Steve Wearne, Director of Policy at the FSA, said: “This new round of EU testing should give additional reassurance to consumers across Europe that the food chain is being checked for potential problems.”

Additional reporting by agencies