Thread: Horsemeat discovered in burgers sold by four British supermarkets

Four major supermarket chains operating in Britain – Aldi, Iceland, Lidl and Tesco – are withdrawing a number of beef products after horse DNA was found in burgers sold by them in the UK and Ireland.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which made the discovery, said the burgers were produced by two meat processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and by the Dalepak Hambleton plant in the UK.

In nine of the 10 burger samples from the four retailers, and from the Irish chain Dunnes Stores, horse DNA was found at very low levels. However, in one sample, Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, the level of positive DNA indicated horsemeat accounted for 29% relative to the beef content. Many of them were also found to contain pig DNA.

The FSAI said the retailers have agreed to remove all implicated batches from sale.

Prof Alan Reilly, chief executive of the FSAI, said that while the findings posed no risk to health, they did raise concerns. "The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried," he added.

"Consumers who have purchased any of the implicated products can return them to their retailer.

"While 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 said it was not part of Irish culture to eat horsemeat: "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."

Tesco said in a statement that it had immediately withdrawn from sale all products from the supplier in question and was working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the suppliers concerned, to ensure that type of contamination did not happen again. "We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation," it said.

"The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco. We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell. The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious."

Iceland said it had noted "with concern" the statement issued by the FSAI and had withdrawn from sale the two Iceland brand quarter-pounder burger lines implicated in the study, pending further investigation.

Aldi said it was conducting its own investigation while Lidl said it has taken the decision to remove all implicated products from sale pending an investigation.

Silvercrest Foods said it was pulling products from sale and replacing them with new lines.

The FSAI analysed 27 beef burger products with best-before dates from last June to March 2014, with 10 of the 27 products - 37% - testing positive for horse DNA and 85% testing positive for pig DNA.

A total of 31 beef meal products such as cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne were tested, with 21 found to be positive for pig DNA. All were negative for horsemeat.

Another 19 salami products were tested but showed no signs of horse DNA. The FSAI analysis also found traces of horse DNA in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain.

The DNA tests found horse in the following products: Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, 29.1%; Tesco Beef Quarter Pounders, 0.1%; Oakhurst Beef Burgers in Aldi, 0.3%; Moordale Quarter Pounders in Lidl, 0.1%; Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders in Dunnes Stores, 0.1%; two varieties of Iceland Quarter Pounders, 0.1%

Horsemeat discovered in burgers sold by four British supermarkets | World news | guardian.co.uk

Shergar?

^ my thoughts too

headline I saw was

Horse found in Irish burgers

and since they 'found' a horse, the only Irish one I knew was missing was Shergar.

Does Tesco-Lotus sell burger patties?

horse meat in the stock food feed to the cattle ?

Imported from France?

"He said it was not part of Irish culture to eat horsemeat: "

No,but racehorse breeding is pretty popular and they ain't all fast...
Bet that recalled stuff all gets shipped of to france.

Originally Posted by Mid

horse meat in the stock food feed to the cattle ?

in one sample, Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, the level of positive DNA indicated horsemeat accounted for 29% relative to the beef content.

I doubt it.

I wondered why i had the urge to jump the privet hedge in the front garden.

Shit, that explains all the gangnam dancing

Originally Posted by Spin

Shergar?

Nope. That one was solved about two years back. The IRA admitted they shot him after about three days because he was uncontrollable and vicious.

It's a sinister plot by the French and the Belgians.

Horsemeat discovered in burgers sold by four British supermarkets

That would probably the a filly filet burger .

A Tescos spokesman said "it' a real night mare, although we can assure customers our burgers are of far better quality in the mane"

Enough burger jokes. They get lame be furlong.

Fillet horse is bloody tasty. Common in Italy. Specialist butchers dealing only in horse meat produce some delicious food.

Those Tesco horse burgers were alright but I prefer my Lidl pony ones.

Originally Posted by robtherich

Fillet horse is bloody tasty. Common in Italy. Specialist butchers dealing only in horse meat produce some delicious food.

Quite lean, as a rule.
Hardy and flavourful.


Taste like chicken....

Has anyone tested Tesco's veggie burgers for uniquorn yet?

I got fired from Tesco's because I got an e-mail about a delivery of horse meat and I marked it as spam.

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by Spin

Shergar?

Nope. That one was solved about two years back. The IRA admitted they shot him after about three days because he was uncontrollable and vicious.

Was solved a lot longer ago than that, met one of the guys who was loosely involved and so has at least one more member on here who told us all about it, and this was best part of 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by Thetyim

I got fired from Tesco's because I got an e-mail about a delivery of horse meat and I marked it as spam.

The best by furlongs so far!

I just went to the fridge to get some Tesco burgers.........and they're off

Budget supermarket's burgers found to contain horse meat
My lidl pony

If you thought Tesco's were in shit about having horse meat on their burgers just wait till they analyse their Quarter Pandas!