Beef products have been taken off a supermarket's shelves as food fraud is being investigated.

Pre-packed meat and deli products from South America and Europe have been sold as 'British beef' to and by the supermarket - which has not been named. 

The National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), part of the Food Standards Agency, is investigating the food fraud.

Andrew Quinn, deputy head of the NFCU, said: “The retailer was notified on the same day that we took action against the food business suspected of the fraud and immediately removed all affected products from their shelves.

“The retailer continues to work closely and co-operatively with the NFCU investigation to progress the case against the supplier.

"This is not a food safety issue but a matter of food fraud.

READ NEXT: Fancy 'driving home for Christmas' in Chris Rea's 1950 series 1 Land Rover?

“Any fraud investigations of this nature take time to go through evidence and bring to any outcome, including any potential prosecution. We take food fraud very seriously and are acting urgently to protect the consumer.”

The Sun has reported that Tesco, Sainsbury’s Asda, Aldi, Morrisons, Lidl, Co-op, M&S, Waitrose and Iceland have all confirmed they are not the supermarket being investigated.

In 2013, horsemeat was found in products being sold as beef.