The Australian meat substitution scandal of 1981 involved the widespread substitution of horse meat and kangaroo meat for beef in Australia. While the substitution primarily affected meat exported overseas, particularly to the United States, further investigations revealed that donkey meat and pet food had been packaged for human consumption and non-halal meat sold as halal meat domestically in Australia as well. Background Claims that meat processing companies in Victoria State were substituting other types of meat for beef were brought before the Parliament of Australia by Cyril Primmer in 1977. Ian Sinclair, then Minister of Primary Industry, later announced that a police investigation of Primmer's claims found no evidence of meat substitution. Allegations of meat substitution were made in both the Australian parliament and the Parliament of Victoria over the following years. However, these claims were not seriously investigated by police. Investigation The scandal unraveled on July 27, 1981, after a food inspector in San Diego, California became suspicious of three blocks of frozen Australian boneless beef that were "darker and stringier" than beef should be. Tests revealed that they were horse meat, not beef, and further testing elsewhere in the United States revealed that some Australian "beef" contained kangaroo meat. Some of the meat had found its way into burgers at the Jack in the Box chain, leading to jokes about "Skippy burgers". In response, the Food and Drug Administration imposed stringent inspections on Australian beef imports. In 1982, the Australian government launched a Royal Commission into the Meat Industry to investigate. Exports of meat from processing plants in Victoria were also suspended for 30 days. The commission investigated 35 companies and released a report on its findings in September 1982. The commission found that "malpractices in the nature of commercial cheating have been widespread in the export industry." The report stated that companies routinely falsified packing dates and description of meats. It also found that there was a perception in the industry that this was tolerated by inspectors. However, Appendix h of the report was not published at the time, and was only made available to the public in 2012, nearly 30 years later, after a Freedom of Information request first made by the Canberra Times in December 1982 was finally successful. The appendix noted that: Several meat distributors in Australia were found to have purchased low-grade cuts of meat intended for pet food, which they then repackaged