Overview
- A diner’s discovery of an electronic ID in kavurma led the agriculture ministry to match the microchip to Smart Latch, a four-year-old thoroughbred.
- Laboratory analysis confirmed the municipal meal contained horse meat from that animal.
- The ministry added the product to its unsafe list on March 12, and authorities destroyed 213 kilograms of the implicated kavurma.
- Owner Suat Topçu, who says he had arranged to donate the injured mare to a riding club, was fined about 132,000 lira for failing to formally report the transfer.
- Investigators suspect the horse was diverted to slaughter and its meat mislabelled as beef; the municipality says its sourcing complied with regulations and official probes continue.