Wetherspoon responds to Zebu claims

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has written an open letter to its customers explaining its position on the use of Zebu meat.

The company is featured in a television programme due to air tonight about the use of zebu - a breed of cattle which was first domesticated in India thousands of years ago - in pub menus as steak.

The programme - Undercover Mum - claims that customers are being hoodwinked into thinking they are buying traditional beef steak when they are getting cuts of zebu meat.

However, the letter from Wetherspoon chief operating officer Paul Harbottle says the use of zebu meat is very common and "in fact 30% of all steak imported into the UK comes from the crossbreed variety of zebu cattle."

And only 10 per cent of Wetherspoon steak comes from South America.

Part of the letter reads: "Zebu is the name of a breed of cattle that is adapted to hotter climates. In Brazil the Zebu breed has been crossbred with European cattle and the crossbreed variety provides very good quality beef which is exported all over the world."​

To see a copy of the letter click here.