Fake Karoo lamb to get chop

Professor Louw Hoffman, who made headlines last year for busting game meat retailers who were feeding donkeys to South Africans, is at it again.

This time the Stellenbosch University researcher is concerned that the high price of Karoo lamb could cause shelves to be flooded with falsely labelled meat.

Hoffman is working on a technique that will expose cheats.

"We are looking at whether Karoo lamb does really differ in taste and whether we can find a way to identify it fast and rapidly," he said.

"You must remember Karoo lamb has a prime price now, and suddenly you could end up with more Karoo lamb being sold than what is being produced.

"We are looking at indicators on the carcass and the meat so that we can come up with a quick and rapid way to say 'hey, that it is not Karoo lamb'."

Hoffman and his team could publish the results of their research by June. He said the technique would hold retailers accountable for what they sold and help assure consumers that what they were eating was what the label said.

The donkey-meat exposé, which Hoffman championed, prompted the government to promulgate new meat-labelling regulations.

According to the research, two-thirds of the 139 products tested contained ingredients that were not declared on their labels.

Donkey, goat, water buffalo and even plant material were found in mince, hamburger patties and dried meat.

The regulations, which came into effect in April last year, require specific information to be displayed on labels of all preserved, processed, dried and packaged meat products, including the land of origin of imported meat.

This month the Western Cape branch of Agricultural Writers South Africa gave its Agriculturist of the Year award to Hoffman in recognition of his research.

He is in the running for the national award, which will be presented next month.

"I am holding thumbs. It will be good for the students as well if I win this award," said Hoffman.