Australians may have been exposed to serious food safety breaches without realising it, including horse meat allegedly sold as beef and lamb mince, metal fragments in bread, and mouse fur found in food products, according to confidential government documents.
The files were released in May after NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd used her parliamentary powers to compel the NSW Food Authority to hand over material relating to major food safety incidents.
Although some documents have since been published, the NSW government asserted privilege over others, blocking their release to the public. As a result, Boyd has only been able to discuss parts of the material in broad terms.
Speaking to ABC’s Four Corners on Monday, Boyd said the records pointed to repeated cases of contaminants turning up in products where they had no place, including mouse fur.
She said one of the most confronting revelations was the possibility that consumers could have bought mince believing it was beef or lamb, when it may have contained horse meat.
Boyd also said the files referred to metal shavings being discovered in bread products, as well as items marketed as dairy-free that were later found to contain dairy. In some cases, she said, the problems only came to light after a child or adult became ill and someone connected the symptoms to the food, rather than because the company had identified the issue itself.
She added that the documents included instances where needles had been found in food.
Boyd said the revelations challenged the confidence many Australians place in the country’s food safety system, saying people generally assume modern standards and proper enforcement are in place to protect them.
Aussies may have unknowingly eaten horse meat in products sold as beef and lamb mince
‘And what we’re seeing now is that trust is probably misplaced.’
Though this is not the first time the existence of horse meat in beef products has been reported.
In 2013, a major investigation was launched in the UK after horse meat was found in beef lasagna and burgers.
The Four Corners investigation also revealed horse meat is still being found in beef products around the world, prompting experts to call for an Australian-based food fraud unit to be launched to test food products.
These units already operate in Europe, the United States and Canada.
While the safety of Australian consumers plagues Boyd, she said she is also concerned about animal safety after seeing ‘horrifying’ examples of animal cruelty within the documents.
‘I read some really quite horrifying incidents and reports, particularly around illegal abattoirs, the sort of illegal slaughtering of all sorts of animals; rampant animal cruelty,’ she said.
‘A really concerning number of illegal knackeries and the result of that is that you’ve seen horses and other animals ending up in what people would assume to be minced beef or minced lamb.’
‘You could be eating a minced horse when you think you’re eating your mince… that’s pretty shocking for the average person,’ NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd said
According to the ABC, the documents also show hundreds of NSW businesses, including aged care homes, hospitals and catering companies, were issued repeated notices for food safety breaches between 2022 and 2026.
The breaches included examples of poor hygiene, expired food, and failures to report dangerous bacteria and control food temperatures, with those most vulnerable, like the elderly and children, most at risk.
Some of NSW’s largest aged care homes were reportedly repeat offenders, including Catholic Healthcare which looks after over 3,000 residents across 41 locations in NSW and southeast Queensland.
The aged care giant was reportedly issued three improvement notices at three facilities in Hunters Hill, Mullumbimby and Dubbo between 2023 and 2024.
Mercy Health and Aged Care’s Albury facility, Mercy Hospital, and three Uniting aged care facilities in Eden, Hamlyn Terrace and Lane Cove were also issued improvement notices.
It comes after ABC’s investigation also found dozens of tomato paste and passata products in Aussie supermarkets failed to match the country of origin stated on their labels.
Of the 221 processed tomato items from 39 brands, their researched found dozens of products that claim to be from Australia or Italy are actually from China, with among half sourced from Xinjiang – an area known for its use of forced labour.
Among the products listed were Leggo’s tomato paste, Coles Italian tomato paste and Aldi’s home brand Remano paste.
The ABC reports Coles and Aldi both rejected the test results.
Daily Mail has contacted the NSW Food Safety Authority for comment.
