South Africans Have Accidentally Been Eating Giraffe and Kangaroo Meat

Just to ensure that human beings have unknowingly consumed EVERY kind of animal who sings “Circle of Life” at the beginning of The Lion King, it looks like South Africans have inadvertently been munching on the horse’s swaggier cousin, the zebra, as well as kangaroos and giraffes. Sigh. Just when we were getting över Ikea’s Swedish horse meatballs and learning to trust again.

146 samples of biltong, dried meat strips that serve as a popular low-fat snack in South Africa, supposedly made of antelope meat, were tested by researchers at the University of Western Cape. Surprise! Not all made of antelope meat.

All packets labeled ‘beef’ were found to be correct but 90 percent of biltong sticks supposedly made of kudu – a large, curly-horned antelope – were actually horse, pork, beef, giraffe or even kangaroo.

Additionally, one of the species in zebra biltong was found to be that of the endangered mountain zebra. ;_;

But let’s not take that “beef” label for granted! Earlier this week it was also discovered that South African hamburger and sausage products contained species of donkey and water buffalo.