Pho Na in Old Kent Road, Southwark, which once boasted a 4.6 rating was recently closed after dog meat labelled "goat wrapped in leaves" was found in its freezer during a health inspection. The claimed “goat meat” was sent away for further testing, with final analysis revealing the innocuous meat was in fact, dog meat. 

Owner Vuong Quoc Nguyen has pleaded not guilty to multiple food safety and hygiene offences claiming he had no knowledge the meat was dog. Dog meat is consumed more commonly in Asian countries including China, Indonesia and Nguyen's native land Vietnam, where a staggering 5 million dogs are trafficked annually for their meat. However, animal welfare laws in the UK effectively outlaw the possibility of acquiring a dog specifically for slaughter and consumption. 

Bromley Magistrates Court, where Nguyen is set to stand trial on December 18th, heard that health inspectors also found mice droppings and cockroaches were also found in the restaurant. 47-year-old owner Vuong Quoc Nguyen has pleaded not guilty to multiple food safety and hygiene offences claiming he had no knowledge the meat was dog. Nguyen's defence solicitor Piers Kiss-Wilson argued that Nguyen had brought in pest control to deal with the mice and insects and that the dog meat was given to him by someone else and was not intended for human consumption.