New probe into Agency’s handling of horsemeat scandal

The FSA board has agreed to the review, which will be headed by Professor Pat Troop, the vice chairwoman of Cambridge University Hospitals and the former chief executive of the Health Protection Agency. She will have unrestricted access to all relevant documents held by the agency as well as to FSA board members and officials.

The findings of the review will be presented to the board at its open meeting on June 4, with a formal report to be submitted to the FSA by the end of June for publication. The project will feed into a larger Government review of the issue.

The move follows a series of revelations that beef products sold and supplied in the UK contained horse DNA.

Irish food inspectors announced in mid-January they had found horsemeat in frozen beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK, and sold by a number of UK supermarket chains. A growing number of stores and companies across Europe, including Findus and Nestle, have recalled beef ready meals, after finding they contained horse DNA.

The Yorkshire Post has also highlighted concerns over the risks of the veterinary anti-inflammatory drug bute, and revealed in February how horsemeat found to contain the drug had been sent to a farm in Yorkshire for human consumption.

Last week, Leeds-based supermarket chain Asda confirmed bute had been detected in a corned beef product, which it had withdrawn from sale in March because it contained horsemeat.

Mary Creagh, Labour’s environment spokeswoman and MP for Wakefield, said: “The Government’s fragmentation of the FSA in 2010 has left our food regulatory system unfit for purpose.

“The FSA knew that the Irish were testing for horsemeat last November, yet did nothing until positive results came back. The FSA also needs to explain why 14 horses that tested positive for bute entered the human food chain before the FSA issued a recall notice.”

In response, the FSA said it had implemented testing of all horse carcasses on January 30. It added: “We also introduced a positive release system in the week commencing February 14, which meant that no horse is allowed to enter the food chain unless it has tested negative for bute.”

The 14 positive results, referred to the number of carcass es which tested positive for bute and these did not enter the food chain.