![\"Close](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JU7N86_214399538_m_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nStock photo. An Auckland bakery has stopped selling a popular pie.
\nPhoto: 123rf\n<\/p>\n
An Auckland bakery has stopped selling a popular pie after Auckland Council said the horse meat used wasn’t cleared for human consumption.<\/p>\n
Before Christmas, Pakuranga Bakery started selling lo’i hoosi pies and promoting them on their Instagram page.<\/p>\n
Lo’i hoosi is a traditional Tongan dish and has horse meat as the main ingredient.<\/p>\n
The horse pie proved extremely popular, drawing rave reviews on social media.<\/p>\n
When First Up initially contacted Pakuranga Bakery last week, they said they were no longer selling the pie.<\/p>\n
Veronica Lee-Thompson, Auckland Council manager of specialist operations, licensing and environmental health, revealed why. She told First Up that Council had received a complaint and sent inspectors to investigate.<\/p>\n
“There were horse meat pies that were being sold and the horse meat was not from a registered supplier,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But the operator was very cooperative and agreed to dispose of all the horse meat on site and any pies that contained any horse meat.”<\/p>\n
Pakuranga Bakery manager Pho Bok said the bakery was buying the lo’i hoosi already prepared.<\/p>\n
“We just bought the filing, because I just saw everyone do it and all the customers have been asking for it. We don’t know how to make it. We just went to buy the filing from a Tongan guy. He just prepared it for us and we just chucked it in a pie”<\/p>\n
It’s perfectly legal to eat horse in New Zealand, but to sell it it for people to consume it must be processed according to New Zealand food safety regulations.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Primary industries there is only one meat processor registered to slaughter and process horse meat for human consumption in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
“Illegal meat could contain bacteria because the animals were sick or potentially diseased, risk of cross-contamination if there’s unhygienic conditions during the processing, they might not be handling things correctly, Lee-Thompson said.<\/p>\n
“It could be contaminated by chemicals.<\/p>\n
“We just want to make sure it’s approved meat that’s in our food chain.”<\/p>\n
There had been no reports of sickness from Pakuranga Bakery’s pies, Auckland Council said.<\/p>\n
Bok said he believed the horse meat he used was legitimately sourced.<\/p>\n
“I did ask them are they a registered business – they said yes. Is the horse meat legal to eat, and they said yes.”<\/p>\n
Pakuranga Bakery is not under investigation, but New Zealand Food Safety is investigating the source of the horse meat.<\/p>\n
Anyone found to have knowingly prepared or sold meat unfit for human consumption can face a fine of up to $100,000 or up to a year in prison.<\/p>\n