Russia's food safety regulator has accused the popular French hypermarket chain Auchan of selling beef and pork mince containing meat from sheep and chicken.
Samples of beef mince were found to contain pig, chicken and sheep DNA, the watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement, while pork mince contained DNA from cattle, chicken and sheep.
But the food safety agency did not repeat a claim made only hours earlier that Auchan's pork mince contained horse DNA.
Its press service could not be reached to explain the reason for the change.
The agency said in the statement that its findings "allow the conclusion to be drawn that the food products are falsified by replacing one kind of meat with another that is less expensive."
Contacted by AFP, Auchan Russia spokeswoman Maria Kurnosova said the company "had launched an internal enquiry to check this information and understand the reasons for these violations if they took place."
AFP
