A bakery in Auckland has stopped the sales of its popular pie following Auckland Council’s ruling that its horse meat wasn’t approved for human consumption.
Pakuranga Bakery began selling lo’i hoosi pies last year, a traditional Tongan dish featuring horse meat as its primary ingredient.
The bakery promoted them on its Instagram page, which quickly gained massive popularity.
However, Pakuranga Bakery announced last week that it would no longer sell the pie.
Veronica Lee-Thompson, Auckland Council’s manager of specialist operations, licensing, and environmental health, said the council received a complaint and dispatched inspectors to investigate.
“There were horse meat pies that were being sold, and the horse meat was not from a registered supplier,” she said.
Lee-Thompson said the operator cooperated fully, agreeing to dispose of all horse meat on site along with any pies containing it.
Pakuranga Bakery manager Pho Bok said the bakery was purchasing the lo’i hoosi pre-prepared.
“We just bought the filing because I just saw everyone do it, and all the customers have been asking for it. We don’t know how to make it.”
“We just went to buy the filing from a Tongan guy. He just prepared it for us, and we just chucked it in a pie.”
Bok said he believed the horse meat used was legitimately sourced.
Lee-Thompson warned that illegal meat could harbour bacteria, as it often comes from sick or diseased animals.
“Risk of cross-contamination: if there’s unhygienic conditions during the processing, they might not be handling things correctly.”
“It could be contaminated by chemicals.”
While eating horse meat is legal in New Zealand, selling it for human consumption requires processing under strict New Zealand food safety regulations. The Ministry of Primary Industries notes that only one meat processor is registered nationwide to slaughter and process horse meat for human use.
Auckland Council confirmed no reports of illness from Pakuranga Bakery’s pies.
Pakuranga Bakery faces no investigation, but New Zealand Food Safety is probing the horse meat’s source.