Well, you can’t have missed the whole EU horsemeat scandal, but apparently the local government is having none of those unexciting, non-exotic meats. We can do better than that. And we do, because:

68% of our local meat contains Water Buffalo (and other meats)!

But Water Buffalo??!!?? Come on!

There’s a fair share of fraudulent meat products on the South African market, according to a new study by meat scientists from Stellenbosch University. The study found that anything from soya, donkey, goat and water buffalo were to be found in up to 68% of the 139 minced meats, burger patties, deli meats, sausages and dried meats that were tested. In other cases, even undeclared plant matter was detected. These ingredients were not declared on the products’ packaging labels.

These are the findings of Meat Scientists – yes, Meat Scientists – at Stellenbosch University here.

More concerning for certain religious groups will be this revelation:

A strong case of meat substitution was also reported. Pork (37%) and chicken (23%) were the most commonly detected animal species in products that were not supposed to contain them.

Of course, I recognise that there’s a serious side to this, but meat is meat. And water buffalo actually sounds kinda cool.