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10 Million Beef Burgers Withdrawn Over Horse Meat Scandal

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10 Million Beef Burgers Withdrawn Over Horse Meat Scandal

Several supermarkets in Ireland and the UK have recalled their private label beef burgers after horsemeat and pork were found to be contained in the products. Beef burgers on sale in Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Iceland and Dunnes Stores have been found to contain horse DNA in a study by Ireland's food safety authority (FSAI), which found horsemeat in more than a third of products tested.

27 frozen beef burger products were analysed by the FSAI, which found that 10, or 37 per cent, contained horsemeat, while pig DNA in 85 per cent of burgers tested. Low traces of horse DNA were found in nine of these 10 products including Aldi Ireland's Oakhurst Beef Burgers; Dunnes Stores’ St Bernard Beef Burgers and Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders; Lidl’s Moordale Beef Burgers, Moordale Ultimate Beef Burgers and Moordale Quarter Pounders; Tesco’s Beef Quarter Pounders; and Iceland Quarter Pounders. However, 29.1 per cent horsemeat was found to be contained in Tesco Everyday Beef Burgers.

21 of 31 beef meal products, such as beef curry and lasagne, analysed by the FSAI were found to contain pig DNA.

While there is no risk to health, all of the products implicated have been recalled and investigations are underway. Tesco has withdrawn 26 products from sale in the UK and Ireland and Aldi has removed its Oakhurst Beef Burgers from shelves in Ireland, and is to invesitgate the matter. It is estimated that some 10 million burgers are in the process of being withdrawn.

                                           

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Two meat processors in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, as well as Dalepak Hambleton in the UK, have been identified as the producers of the products. Silvercrest Foods, which supplies Tesco's beef burgers, and Dalepak Hambleton are both owned by Irish-owned ABP Food Group. ABP, one of Europe's leading privately-owned food processors and is ranked number 27 in the Irish Times list of Ireland's top 1,000 companies. Owned by low-key multi-millionaire Larry Goodman, the family business is the leading beef producer in the UK and Ireland and the largest beef exporter to continental Europe. In November 2012 ABP Ireland won the Tesco Export Award, adding to its host of awards for quality.

In an interview with RTÉ, chief executive of ABP, Paul Finnerty, said the company feel it has done nothing wrong as it bought beef product as an ingredient for the burgers from two continental European third party suppliers. Liffey Meats has also said that it believes imported ingredients from a foreign supplier may also be the cause of the contamination in its case. Ireland's Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said that the investigation into the burgers is focusing on imported ingredients, thought to have been sourced in the Netherlands and Spain.

Professor Alan Reilly, FSAI chief executive said, "Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process." He added, "In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger. Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable.” (16 Jan)

© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Sadhbh Connor and Kevin Kelly

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