By Ross McNaughton of RNZ

An Auckland bakery has stopped selling a popular pie after Auckland Council said the horse meat used wasn’t cleared for human consumption.

Before Christmas, Pakūranga Bakery started selling lo’i hoosi pies and promoting them on their Instagram page.

Lo’i hoosi is a traditional Tongan dish and has horse meat as the main ingredient.

The horse meat pie proved extremely popular, drawing rave reviews on social media.

When First Up initially contacted Pakūranga Bakery last week, they said they were no longer selling the pie.

Veronica Lee-Thompson, Auckland Council manager of specialist operations, licensing and environmental health, revealed why. She told First Up that the council had received a complaint and had sent inspectors to investigate.

“There were horse meat pies that were being sold and the horse meat was not from a registered supplier,” she said.

“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.”

Pakuranga Bakery manager Pho Bok said the bakery was buying the lo’i hoosi already prepared.

“We just bought the filling, 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 filling from a Tongan guy. He just prepared it for us and we just chucked it in a pie”

It’s perfectly legal to eat horse meat in New Zealand, but to sell it for people to consume it must be processed according to New Zealand food safety regulations.

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.

“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.

“It could be contaminated by chemicals.

“We just want to make sure it’s approved meat that’s in our food chain.”

There had been no reports of sickness from Pakūranga Bakery’s pies, Auckland Council said.

Bok said he believed the horse meat he used was legitimately sourced.

“I did ask them are they a registered business – they said yes. Is the horse meat legal to eat, and they said yes.”

Pakuranga Bakery is not under investigation, but New Zealand Food Safety is investigating the source of the horse meat.

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.