Cameron puts blame for horse burgers on stores

The ABP Food Group, one of Europe’s biggest suppliers and processors, is being investigated by health and agriculture authorities in the UK and Ireland after traces of horse meat were found in its burgers.

Two of its subsidiaries, Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in North Yorkshire, supplied burgers which contained equine DNA to supermarkets, including one product found to be made up of 29 per cent horse meat.

Prime Minister David Cameron said supermarkets had to take responsibility for what he claimed was an extremely disturbing case.

“This is a completely unacceptable state of affairs,” he said. “It is worth making the point that ultimately retailers have to be responsible for what they sell and where it has come from.”

The UK’s food watchdog is considering whether legal action should be taken against companies involved in the scandal. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said they would consult relevant local authorities and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which uncovered the scandal.

Members of the Meat Crusade, organised by the Yorkshire farmer and wholesale butcher John Penny & Sons, claimed the convenience of supermarkets and rising shopping bills had shifted the public’s focus away from traditional butchers. The campaign was launched in February last year with the aim of putting quality meat back on the UK’s dinner tables by encouraging shoppers to back their local butchers.

The Meat Crusade’s spokeswoman, Kate Wood, who works at John Penny & Sons in Rawdon, said: “We are so used to the convenience of supermarket shopping, but butchers provide meat at often very competitive prices.

“Butchers have to ensure the quality and integrity of their meat, otherwise they are unable to compete. They are able to trace where the meat has come from, to the extent that they can say what the animal was fed, what sort of land it was raised on and which slaughterhouse it went to.

“If people want to be sure of what they are serving up for dinner, then the answer is to support their local butcher. I do believe there is a move towards this, but more needs to be done to raise the profile of the local butcher.”

Ten million burgers have been taken off shelves as a result of the scandal which emerged on Tuesday evening.

A third company, Liffey meats, based in Co Cavan, Ireland, was also found to be supplying products to supermarkets with traces of horse DNA.

An ABP spokesman confirmed a new testing regime for meat products is being adopted which will include DNA analysis. He added: ”It is vital that the integrity of the supply chain is assured and we are committed to restoring consumer confidence.”

Suppliers in the Netherlands and Spain have been identified as the possible sources for incorrectly labelled ingredients. The scandal was uncovered through DNA testing of samples by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).

The results showed low levels of horse in beef products sold in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores in Ireland. Some burgers were also being sold in the UK but retailers insisted all suspect brands were removed within hours of findings being released.

Ireland’s agriculture and food minister, Simon Coveney, said: “There’s no health issue here. I’m not comfortable eating horse meat like lots of others, but that’s not the issue. The issue is if someone has consumed a burger and something was in that burger that they did not know about.”

The head of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, insisted there was no health risk but highlighted problems for people not eating meat on religious grounds.

Comment: Page 12