Swedish consumers get fake beef

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- About 95.5 tons of pork cuts dyed to look like beef have been imported to Sweden, and about 70 ton of it have already been sold, official say.

The fake beef was imported into Sweden for two years and sold at grocery stores nationwide, The Local.se reported.

Tomas Narving, from the food wholesaler Svensk Cater, discovered the scam after receiving a complaint from a client over meat labeled as Argentinean tenderloin.

"When we examined the meat we found traces of syringes," said Narving.

A National Food Agency investigation confirmed the meat was pork that had been dyed pink to resemble beef.

The meat was imported from the Hungarian companies CKA Chark and Heat och Barterinvest.

"People should not eat meat that is mislabeled and that contains banned coloring agents," said Britt Carlsson of the Environmental Department in Karlstad in west central Sweden. "As far as I know the Board of Agriculture does not even approve of it being used as animal fodder."