Millions of takeaway doner kebab lovers may have unknowingly eaten goat, skin and fat instead of lamb – with DNA tests showing some products contained less than 10% sheep meat, despite being labelled as up to 87% lamb.
Kismet Kebabs, one of the UK’s largest doner kebab makers, has been fined £500,000 after admitting fraud by false representation. Investigators estimated the Essex-based company made £6m from the deception, which dates back to 2021.
“DNA tests show Kismet Kebabs' 'lamb' doner meat contained less than 10% sheep; firm fined £500k after fraud that may have affected millions of takeaway customers.”
The fraud came to light when trading standards officers in Swansea began randomly DNA testing doner meat from takeaways in 2020 and 2021. Kebabs labelled as containing 70% lamb came back showing “less than 10% sheep”.
“I think some customers won’t be surprised there’s a lot of skin and fat in these products – but I don’t think many people will be expecting goat,” said Rhys Harries, a Swansea trading standards officer.
When investigators raided the Kismet factory in Latchingdon, near Chelmsford, in May 2021, they found no lamb being delivered. “We didn’t see any lamb apart from lamb fat,” Harries 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.”
The company, which produces more than 100 tonnes of kebab varieties every week, had advertised and labelled its lamb doner kebabs as containing up to 87% lamb – depending on the product. But DNA testing proved otherwise.
Harries compared the case to the 2013 horsemeat scandal, when horsemeat was found in beef products across Europe. “It’s almost the same as the horsemeat scandal, because of the volume of product that was going out of this factory,” he said.
Kismet Kebabs said the fraud related to “historical events” over five years ago when they “operated under a different leadership structure”. Company directors Panayiotis Vasilis Michael and Djemal Enver each admitted one count of fraud by false representation.
For years, the mislabelled kebabs were sold to fast food outlets across the UK, leaving millions of customers unknowingly eating meat that was not what it claimed to be – a deception that one trading standards officer said went far beyond what even cynical takeaway lovers might expect.