'Horse Gate' in Amsterdam - restaurant serves horse meat, not cow

The Amsterdam newspaper Parool has found out that a well-known restaurant in Amsterdam has served horse steak instead of cow steak.

The restaurant, Steakhouse Piet de Leeuw, famous for its steak dishes since the 1940's, is accused by the newspaper of having served its clients horse meat instead of cow meat.
The restaurant is well-frequented by tourists in Amsterdam.

The Parool had meat of the restaurant researched by a butcher, a chef cook and a DNA laboratory, and the result was clear: the meat is horse meat.

The owner of the business, Mr Loek van Thiel, is quoted in the article as saying he 'does not understand how this happened..... We have a reputation to maintain .... Perhaps a piece of horse meat slipped through, or there was a slip-up at the meat company where we buy this.'

However, the meat company, Fontijn Vlees, says the restaurant has been ordering boxes full of horse meat, for the about 10 years it has been a client. 'We deliver what the client asks for, and Piet de Leeuw buys horse meat from Argentina. It says so in our administration and on the delivery slips, and it is completely impossible that the owner does not know it is horse meat. Above all, there is a picture of a horse on every package!'.

There is currently a horse meat scandal going on in Europe: supermarkets appear to have sold food with horse meat, while on the packaging it is sold as cow meat. The scandal has spread from Britain and Ireland to various countries on the continent.

In the Netherlands, the (biggest) supermarket chain Albert Heyn had to remove lasagna of the 'Euroshopper' brand from its shops, because horse meat was found in it.

Horse meat is one third to 50% cheaper than cow meat.