Widespread contraventions of food labelling law were found in a nine-month programme of meat product testing carried out by Leicester City Council, but no food safety concerns were raised.

The council launched the city-wide programme in May last year in response to the horsemeat scandal, when lamb burgers labelled as halal, and supplied to a city primary school, were found to contain pork DNA.

One-hundred-and-five meat products were tested from local businesses. Of these, 47 samples were found to contain meat from species other than that declared, and at levels regarded as gross contamination, said the council.

Last month a West Yorkshire public laboratory published findings from a six-month study, showing that 38% of food products, including meat, were mislabelled or had compositional faults.