Kismet Kebabs: Company hit with whopping fine after horror revelations about what was really in lamb kebabs

The horrifying truth about what meat was going into kebabs has been uncovered in court after a UK company was slapped with a whopping fine for fraud.

Unwitting customers who thought they were buying a lamb kebab were actually more likely to be swallowing a mouthful of goat, turkey, skin, mutton and fat.

Once crowned Best Supplier of the Year in the 2021 British Kebab Awards, Kismet Kebabs has been fined £500,000 ($A946,000) and ordered to pay £259,298 ($A490,762), after it pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation.

The fraud was first uncovered after testing by a local council at takeaways and restaurants in 2020 and 2021, which showed some of their kebabs could not legally be called “meat” and “differed significantly” from what was on the label.

In fact, one doner that claimed to contain 87 per cent lamb was in fact only 51 per cent meat and 40 per cent fat.

A visit to Kismet’s warehouse uncovered no actual lamb on the premises. Instead, “significant quantities of lamb fat, skin, goat, mutton, and ovine” were present.

The company was also producing mechanically derived meat made up predominantly of “neck trim, mutton trim, water and ice”, which was then being counted to their product’s actual meat content declaration.

During sentencing in Swansea Crown Court on Friday, Prosecutor Lee Reynolds said the company had “misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers”, BBC reported.

“Much of what was being described as lamb was in fact skin and fat. The company routinely and knowingly purchased goat, lamb fat, skin, mutton, and ovine (sheep meat), and once processed through their factory sold it as lamb.

“In addition, other products were sold as specific meat products when the item contained meat of a different species.”

He said the company engaged in “organised, planned, unlawful activity” and “misled wholesalers, retailers and consumers”.

Stuart Jessop, a lawyer acting for the firm, said at the time of the offending, the company had “taken its eye off the ball” and had since made significant changes.

Judge Huw Rees said the company had engaged in “considerable dishonesty” over a prolonged period of time, but acknowledged it has steps to improve.

Kismet Kebabs, which on its website says “every kebab is a testament to our unwavering dedication to excellence”, has been approached for comment.