Analyzed 25 kebabs bought in fast food restaurants

Madrid, 7 October 2014. OCU has analyzed in the laboratory 25 kebabs bought in restaurants specialized in this increasingly popular fast food. All of them were located in Madrid. They have been subjected to analysis to determine the quality of the meat, the verification of the species, the nutritional quality and hygiene. The study results are published in the October issue of the magazine OCU-Compra Maestra.

In 24 samples OCU has detected different proportions of meat of other species. Horse meat appears in 7 samples, below 1% which is precisely the limit that the EU recently set to determine the existence of fraud, all because of the scandal of horse meat. Although from the legal point of view it is not possible to talk about fraud, a high level of opacity remains about how horse meat comes to industrial preparations and why in this case one out of three tested products has suffered that "environmental pollution".

The same is true in the case of turkey meat. In 13 samples the analyses have also detected turkey, always at levels below 1%. The industry has openly acknowledged the addition of turkey meat to beef kebab with the excuse of improving the outcome.

By contrast, according to the analyses made by OCU, the presence of chicken is much higher. In 6 samples there was more than a 60% of chicken in a supposedly beef kebab. In 11 samples, the ratio was between 40 and 60%, and finally in 3 of them the amount was below 1%. It is not only an economic fraud, it is a quality fraud too. The high calcium content found in kebabs (5 times more than expected in beef) has an only single explanation: the use of “mechanically separated meat", that is     very poor quality chicken.

OCU has found no trace of pork in these products.

With regard to the quality of the meat, measured by the amount of calcium and collagen, it is acceptable in just over half of the samples and low in the rest of them. Hygiene is another aspect to improve taking into account that 11 of the 25 samples tested had poor hygiene levels.

Finally, regarding the nutritional quality of this food, OCU notes that the quantity of salt and fat in kebabs is higher than the one in the best known burgers so their consumption should be moderate.

OCU notes that this type of product, a mixture of several types of meat, does not respect the legitimate rights of consumers to know what they are eating, even if they do not pose health risks. Therefore OCU requests the improvement of the information about food available to consumers and a rigorous control by the competent authorities to ensure the respect for consumers´rights.

More information: http://www.ocu.org/alimentacion/alimentos/informe/kebabs-analysis

For more information (media) Eva Jimenez Tel. 917,226,061 prensa@ocu.org