SALAMI on sale in the region could contain horse and donkey meat, the Food Standards Agency revealed yesterday.

The agency has announced it is to launch an investigation to analyse what goes into different makes of salami, chorizo and pastrami.

The investigation follows a survey carried out by local authorities in Durham, Northumberland, North and West Yorkshire, and Hull, which found horse meat in three of 24 samples of salami tested.

Two samples of a Belgium salami called L'artibon were taken from Safeway, in Durham city centre, in October by trading standards officers.

Yesterday, they confirmed that tests on one sample showed it contained traces of horse and donkey.

But as the second sample contained no traces of horse meat, the officers decided not to take any further action, although the shop cleared its shelf of the meat.

Rosemary Hignett, of the Food Standards Agency, said there was no issue that salamis containing horse or donkey were unsafe.

She said: ''There are concerns that UK consumers could unwittingly be eating horse and perhaps donkey meat when they buy a salami or similar product.

''Some people may prefer not to eat these products, even though food safety is not the issue and they are often traditional recipes."