The restaurant chain Whitbread has apologised after it emerged some of its restaurants have been adding pork to lasagne dishes, without telling customers, it is reported on the NPA website.
Quoting a report from the Sun newspaper, it is stated that Whitbread brands Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Whitbread Inn have been serving the lasagne to nearly 250,000 customers for three months in a cost-cutting move.
It is also claimed that 13 Whitbread Inns and 86 Table Table restaurants still describe the dish in question as ‘beef lasagne’, even though the description on the packaging shows the meal includes a ‘beef and pork ragu’ while the ingredients confirm it contains 8.5% beef and 4.5% pork.
Professor Chris Elliott (pictured above), director of the Institute for Global Food Security in Belfast and author of the review of the horsemeat scandal, said he was “absolutely horrified” by the situation, which he went on to describe as a “deception”.
“Having undeclared meat in food has echoes of the horsemeat scandal,” he added. “There will need to be an investigation.”