The danger lurking in takeaways

The horrific extent of diseased and dirty meat being sold in the capital's takeaways and restaurants is unveiled today.

An investigation into the illegal trade in animal carcasses reveals tons of "rotten, rancid" meat are ending up with high street butchers and food retailers.

Despite the Government's pledge to clamp down in the aftermath of BSE, disreputable traders are operating outside the law - and escaping punishment.

Channel 4's Dispatches mounted an undercover operation to expose the meat trade scandal.

It focused on one man, Colin Patterson, who has spent years selling diseased carcasses to butchers across the capital for huge profits. Health experts who examined the meat, sold from a van in east London and from his own shop in Wandsworth, found animals ravaged by disease.

One sheep was found to have an abscess. Another had clear signs of pleurisy. More than 40 per cent were emaciated and infected - all handled in filthy conditions.

But a typical vanload of sheep carcasses, sold at ?5 a kilo, could rake in a ?6,000 profit.

Expert Paul Povey warned: "This food should not be allowed in the human food chain."

Last month, Patterson was finally found guilty on nine counts of keeping meat in unhygienic conditions.