South African meat has traces of buffalo, donkey and goat in it

GlobalPost

It's not just Europe that needs to reevaluate its meat supply chain.

In South Africa, you don't have to worry about accidentally consuming horse meat during the next family braai, but you should be concerned about other unconventional critters that may have crept into your meal.

According to the Associated Press, a study by three professors at Stellenbosch Univeristy has found that 99 of 139 samples of processed commercial meats contained undisclosed water buffalo, goat, and donkey meat. Researchers also found undeclared pork in 37 percent of samples, and chicken in 23 percent.

But the issue isn't just about unidentified animal sources — the study also found found undisclosed soy and gluten in 28 percent of the products they tested.

“Our study confirms that the mislabelling of processed meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food labelling regulations, but also poses economic, religious, ethical and health impacts,” Louw Hoffman of the Department of Animal Sciences said, the Stellenbosch University blog reported.

“Even though we have local regulations that protect consumers from being sold falsely described or inferior foodstuffs, we need these measures to be appropriately enforced," Hoffman said.

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