Moussaka at room temperature. In the Arab countries it is usually eaten cold or hot depending on the country. The English name for moussaka has Arabic origin "musaqqa‘a" (), literally 'that which is fed liquid'. It was reborrowed from Greek "" () and from other Balkan languages, all of which borrowed the word from Ottoman. The word is first attested in English in 1862, written "mùzàkkà". Most versions are based primarily on sautéed aubergine (eggplant) and tomato, usually with minced meat, mostly lamb. However, the Greek version includes layers of meat and eggplant topped with a Béchamel ("white") sauce, and baked.
2013 horse meat scandal in the UK, France and Sweden and the shepherd's pie and moussaka ranges in France contained horse meat without proper declaration or official scrutiny . The contamination may have gone on since summer 2012 according to a leaked document. Compass Group was the world's biggest catering firm at the time and discovered through conducting tests that it was unknowingly supplying concealed horse meat in food products to a "small number" of schools in Northern Ireland. Whitbread, which was at the time Britain's biggest hotel group also discovered through tests that it had unknowingly sold concealed horse meat in food products.