Millions of UK kebab lovers may have unknowingly eaten goat, skin, and fat instead of lamb, a BBC investigation has uncovered. One of the country's largest doner kebab manufacturers, Kismet Kebabs, was fined £500,000 after admitting to food fraud dating back to 2021.
Investigation Reveals Shocking Findings
Swansea trading standards officers raided a Kismet Kebab factory in 2021 and found no shipments of lamb on site. Instead, they discovered pallets of goat, offcuts, fat, skin, and mutton. Testing showed that kebabs labelled as '70% lamb' contained less than 10% sheep DNA.
Rhys Harries, a Swansea trading standards officer, said: 'There were pallets of goat, pallets of trim, offcuts with high fat content, boxes of fat, boxes of skin, bits of mutton. It all goes into a massive mincer and comes out looking like Play-Doh.' He added: 'A consumer buying a kebab knows it's probably not the best quality ingredients, but it's still got to be what it says it is.'
Comparison to Horse Meat Scandal
Harries compared the scale of the fraud to the 2013 horse meat scandal, when Tesco sold beef burgers containing horse meat. 'It's almost the same as the horsemeat scandal, because of the volume of product that was going out of this factory,' he said. 'This is straightforward food fraud. They were charging wholesalers and consumers a premium price for something that's full of rubbish.'
Kismet Kebabs Response
Kismet Kebabs remains in operation but has changed leadership since the scandal. In a statement, the company said: 'It is important to recognise that the matters in question relate to historical events and do not reflect the standards, systems, management structure, or operational controls that exist within the business today.'
The fine of £500,000 was imposed for the fraudulent mislabelling. Harries noted that some customers might not be surprised by the presence of skin and fat, but added: 'I don't think many people will be expecting goat.'
