Ireland has received the all-clear in the latest round of European tests of horsemeat in beef products. However, significant problems were highlighted over a series of lamb products tested separately by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).

While no horsemeat was found in beef products tested by European Union officials, the FSAI raised serious concerns over lamb products sold in takeaways here.

According to the FSAI, test results showed that there was little or no lamb meat in “lamb kebabs” sold in Dublin city takeaways.

The FSAI’s research revealed the presence of meats other than lamb in seven of the 20 products labeled as lamb sampled from independent takeaway restaurants.

In the pan-Europe horsemeat tests, there was a total of 16 cases of undeclared horsemeat in products labelled as beef.

Bulgaria and Hungary were the biggest culprits, with four cases each of food fraud. Other countries that tested positive were Portugal (three cases), Latvia (two cases), and Germany, Spain and Slovenia (one each).

In excess of 2,500 samples were taken in 28 countries across the EU, which means that approximately 0.05% of samples tested positive.