Kangeroos in South Africa? Bitlong meat strips contain meat from anything

I don’t know what bitlong is, but it’s apparently popular in South Africa and apparently it’s made from whatever meat is available.

Using DNA analysis on biltong, researchers found, according to the N.Y Times,  horse meat labeled as springbok, the native gazelle; giraffe meat biltong.mar.13labeled as the African antelope, kudu; and in an inexplicable case, kangaroo labeled as ostrich.

“For me the saddest finding was to find the Cape mountain zebra, an endangered species, being sold as biltong,” said Maria Eugenia D’Amato, a geneticist at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and one of the authors of the study, in the journal Investigative Genetics.

From a total of 146 samples of biltong, sausage and minced meat, more than a hundred pieces of meat were mislabeled.

Beef was correctly labeled in all of the samples.

“Our biggest surprise was to find kangaroo in the samples,” Dr. D’Amato said. “This isn’t found anywhere on the continent, and it must have been imported.”

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About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time