Birds Eye has recalled several batches of its frozen chicken pies after noticing some of the boxes contained beef.
The incident also led to an allergy scare as the beef pies contain mustard which could cause an adverse reaction.
The company admitted a ‘small number’ of packages are affected and have asked supermarkets to remove them from their freezers.
Birds Eye reported three batches of their chicken pies possibly contained steak
The steak pies, which contain mustard, were incorrectly wrapped in the wrong packaging
A spokesman for the company said: ‘At Birds Eye, the quality and safety of our products are of the utmost importance to us. Birds Eye is recalling a small number of Birds Eye 4 Shortcrust Chicken Pies packs that were produced on a single day in October 2017 which were mistakenly filled with Birds Eye Steak Pies.
‘Birds Eye Steak Pies contain mustard which may pose a health risk to anyone with an allergy to mustard.
‘As a result, we are recalling packs with a best before date of 04 / 2019 and the codes L7301MRN52, L7301ARN52, L7301NRN52, which can be found on the coding field on the side of the box.
‘No other Birds Eye products, including all other lot codes of Birds Eye 4 Shortcrust Chicken Pies, have been affected and can be consumed safely.
‘We are reviewing our processes to ensure that this does not happen again and we would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to our consumers.’
The Food Standards Agency issued the allergy alert after being informed by the company about the error.
A spokesman for the FSA said: ‘This product contains mustard making it a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to mustard.’
The regulator advised consumers: ‘If you have bought the above product and have an allergy to mustard, do not eat it. Instead return it to the store from where it was bought for a full refund.’
In July, 66 people were arrested for trading in horsemeat unfit for human consumption.
Europol said it had seized bank accounts, properties and luxury cars following an investigation into a food scandal that shocked European consumers.
Tests carried out in Ireland in 2013 showed that meat in some products labelled as beef was in fact up to 100 percent horsemeat.
Spanish police began investigating a group which slaughtered Spanish and Portuguese horses too old or in too bad a condition for human consumption, forged their documentation and sent them to Belgium, a large horse meat exporter in the European Union.
The European police agency Europol said 65 people were arrested in Spain, and the main suspect, a Dutch citizen, was arrested in Belgium.
An EU investigation revealed that less than 5 percent of all beef products tested had come back positive for horse DNA.