An article which appeared on the Daily Mail website, today caused ructions - after top London restaurant group Hawksmoor recognised a photograph of their prime beef steak illustrating a piece about a Nigerian restaurant which allegedly served up human flesh to their unsuspecting diners.
According to The Huffington Post, the Nigerian story has been doing the rounds - appearing earlier this month on the BBC's Swahili service.
When Hawksmoor owner Will Beckett saw the photo - he took to Twitter - declaring "Dear @MailOnline, why are you using a photo of our steak to illustrate Nigerian restaurant that sells human meat? Legal?"
He went on to explain that after someone sent him the link, he recognised the photo of their meat. "It's a sliced chateaubriand from Yorkshire Longhorn cattle that we serve at all our restaurants," he said. "For clarity's sake, we don't serve human flesh". Nor is any of their meat from Nigeria. Hawksmoor's highly ethical meat sourcing policy is clearly stated on their website: that theirs comes "from grass-fed native cattle".
A Daily Mail spokesman told Hot Dinners; "We made it quite clear to our readers that the picture was a file photograph of beef steak. As a gesture of goodwill, we have removed the photo from our article." They've since removed the entire story, stating that "BBC Swahili has now confirmed that the story was incorrect and the article has now been removed from our website."
Hawksmoor, which has won a number of awards for its steak, can rest easy. As Will Beckett told us: "We've never even been nominated for Nigeria's Best Restaurant, or Cannibal Menu of the Year." And, he added, their steak - though not cheap, is "excellent value".
