The popular cantık, one of the most traditional and iconic dishes of the cuisine of the city of Bursa – situated in north-western Turkey and the country’s fourth most populous city – has found itself at the centre of a major scandal after being included in a list of food safety breaches published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which states that a meat sample taken from a famous restaurant in the Osmangazi district, identified as beef, actually contained horse or donkey meat.
Following a series of routine inspections aimed at ensuring food safety, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has published its lists of “Foods that may endanger health” and “Counterfeit or adulterated foods”; these lists have caused quite a stir in Türkiye as they include cantık, a traditional dish originating from Bursa, made from a small, round dough similar to that of a pizza or pide, filled with minced lamb or beef, vegetables or cheese.
Laboratory analyses show that the beef was in fact horse meat
During investigations carried out by the Ministry’s inspectors at some of the city’s oldest and most popular establishments, the contents of the products offered to consumers were subjected to microbiological and histological analysis in laboratories; and these investigations have scientifically demonstrated that the meat used to make cantık in some of these restaurants had been adulterated, according to the Turkish news site Ahaber.
Specifically, during a physical inspection carried out at Acı Dayı Cantık Salonu, a well-known historic restaurant in the Osmangazi district – situated next to the historic Kayıhan Bazaar, right in the centre of Bursa – the inspectors took several meat samples. One of these was taken on 8 June 2026 from a product which the restaurant owners officially declared to be “a mixture of raw meat for cantık (beef)”.
However, following analysis in the Ministry’s laboratories – including detailed DNA and tissue studies – the sample was identified – conclusively and beyond any doubt – as meat from equine animals, including horse meat and donkey meat.
Inspectors also detected irregularities in meatballs (köfte) and sausages
Following this discovery, the Ministry added the restaurant where the equine meat was found to its list of food adulteration cases and publicly disclosed its identity and the details of the inspection.
In addition to the scandal caused by this famous restaurant’s adulterated preparation of cantık using horse or donkey meat – which has provoked deep outrage in Bursa – the list published by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has also revealed irregularities at food businesses in the city.
Indeed, the inspections carried out – particularly at meat-processing facilities and restaurants that produce and sell meat products – have also revealed that several establishments and companies were using counterfeit or adulterated products in their sausages (sucuk) and meatballs (köfte).
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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