Shanghai, Jan 4 (IANS/EFE): Walmart over the past few days has removed from its stores in the Chinese city of Jinan several batches of donkey meat, when it was found that it was being sold fraudulently mixed with undeclared meat from other animals.

After a series of DNA tests, it was found that the donkey meat, a normal dish in the eastern province of Shandong, was mixed with flesh from other animals, including fox meat, China Daily said Friday.

The head of the local company that produced the meat, Dezhou Fujude Food Co. Ltd., has been detained and production at the factory suspended.

Walmart has apologised to Chinese consumers and has promised to return all the money paid for the product by all customers who bought the Five Spices brand of donkey meat.

Walmart China has launched an internal investigation, CEO Greg Foran said.

"At Walmart, we take the issue of food fraud very seriously. To this end, Walmart China is going beyond what local law requires and is adding DNA tests to its sample tests of meat products to ensure high quality and safety of the products sold in Walmart stores," the company said in a statement.