You Could Be Eating a Minced Horse". Horse Meat Has Been Found in Beef Products in Australia, and Around the World"

Government documents show hundreds of businesses operating in Australia have breached food safety laws, with one politician warning "you could be eating a minced horse". Horse meat has been found in beef products in Australia, and around the world. ( Getty: kaanates ) New South Wales Greens politician Abigail Boyd has used parliamentary powers to obtain documents detailing serious food safety breaches.

She says the files show horse meat has been sold as beef and lamb mince, and that metal shavings have been found inside bread products. Ms Boyd has challenged the government's claim of privilege over the files and has requested a review from the independent arbiter. Some Australians may have unknowingly consumed horse meat in products sold as beef or lamb, or eaten food containing mouse fur or metal shavings, secret government files reveal.

The revelations form part of a major Four Corners investigation into Australia's food industry. New South Wales Greens politician Abigail Boyd used parliamentary powers to force the production of thousands of documents from the NSW Food Authority, revealing what she says are serious weaknesses and a lack of transparency in the system. The documents were produced under a Standing Order 52 passed by the NSW upper house in May.

While some have been made public, the government claimed privilege over others, preventing their public release. Abigail Boyd says she was shocked by what she found. ( Four Corners: Rob Hill ) Ms Boyd is allowed to inspect the restricted files but cannot publicly release them or identify individual businesses.

She has challenged the government's privilege claims, triggering an independent legal review of whether they should remain secret. She can speak about the documents only in general terms. "There were metal shavings found in bread products … products that were supposed to be dairy-free, that were not dairy-free, [which] were only caught by accident because somebody happened to put it together after their child or they themselves got sick, not because the company had worked it out.

Ms Boyd said there were even cases of needles being found in food. "We all walk around thinking that in modern Australia, we have food safety standards and enforcement to back that trust up, Ms Boyd said. "And what we're seeing now is that trust is probably misplaced.

Australians may have eaten horse meat without their knowledge, Abigail Boyd warns. ( Getty: Carmen Martínez Torrón ) While many documents remain confidential, Four Corners has reviewed a portion released to the public under the parliamentary order. They show hundreds of businesses, including aged care homes, hospitals and catering companies, were issued notices for food safety breaches between 2022 and 2026. Failures included poor hygiene, expired food, failures to report dangerous bacteria and other breaches that put vulnerable groups, including the elderly and children, at risk.

The most common enforcement action was an improvement notice requiring businesses to fix identified food safety breaches by a specified deadline. For years, businesses were charged a $330 fee when issued an improvement notice. That increased to $565 late last year.

More than 100 businesses received multiple improvement notices for repeated food safety breaches. The NSW Food Authority directly regulates 14,500 licensed food businesses and facilities, including meat and dairy processors, egg and seafood businesses, and food services in hospitals and aged care homes. Despite overseeing some of the state's higher risk food operations, the authority has not cancelled one business's licence over seven years.

Local councils are responsible for the broader retail sector, including restaurants and cafes. Catering company Cater Care, which provides 10 million meals a year to the health and aged care sector, received nine improvement notices across NSW facilities between 2023 and 2026. Inspectors identified breaches included poor hygiene, inadequate safety records, expired food, poor monitoring records and poor labelling of food. "We have this very large company feeding millions of people and not being held accountable for some of the most basic hygiene and food standards, Ms Boyd said.