Tesco pulls horse burgers

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**Frazzled**

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ireland-horse-dna-found-beef-burgers-203106586.html

Tesco, along with a number of other supermarkets, has removed certain brands of frozen beefburgers from its shelves in the UK and Ireland after they were found to contain horsemeat.

A study examining the authenticity of a number of beefburger, beef meal and salami products available from retail outlets in Ireland found horsemeat accounted for approximately 29% of the content in one sample of Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers.

Tests on beef products sold in Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores uncovered low levels of horse DNA.

Authorities have said there is no threat to public health, but the issue is one of consumer confidence and shoppers being able to trust that what they are eating is what was stated on the label.

Tim Smith, group technical director at Tesco, said: "We immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question.

"We are working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again.

"We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation.

"We understand that many of our customers will be concerned by this news, and we apologise sincerely for any distress."

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) tested for the presence of horse and pig DNA.

A total of 27 beefburger products were analysed, with 10 (37%) testing positive for horse DNA and 23 (85%) testing positive for pig DNA.

Some 31 beef meal products including cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne were also analysed. Twenty-one were found to have pig DNA, while all were negative for horse DNA.

All 19 salami products analysed tested negative for horse DNA, but traces were detected in batches of raw ingredients including some imported from The Netherlands and Spain.

The beefburger products which tested positive for horse DNA were produced by two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and one in the UK, Dalepak Hambleton.

They were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland. In nine of the 10 beefburger samples from these retailers, horse DNA was found at low levels.

The tests found horse DNA 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%, and two varieties of Iceland Quarter Pounders 0.1%.

Even lower levels were recorded in Moordale Beef Burgers in Lidl and St Bernard Beef Burgers in Dunnes Stores.

Sky's Health and Science Correspondent Thomas Moore said: "These days, meat is traded around Europe. There is a suggestion that this horse meat didn't actually come from Britain or Ireland and it may well have been imported from Spain or Holland.

"In some parts of the continent, horse meat is eaten and is perfectly normal."

The FSAI said it was working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, as well as the processing plants and retailers involved.

It said the retailers had pledged to remove all implicated batches from their shelves immediately. In addition, Silvercrest Foods was withdrawing all products from sale and replacing them with new ones.

Aldi said it was conducting its own investigation. "We have sought information from one supplier, Silvercrest, which is dealing directly with the FSAI on the issue that has been raised," it said.

Lidl said it had taken the decision to remove all implicated products from sale pending a full investigation.

"A refund will be provided to customers who wish to return affected products," a spokesman said.

Professor Alan Reilly, the chief executive of the FSAI, said although consumers need not worry, the findings did raise a number of concerns.

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

"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 horse meat in their production process.

"In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horse meat, 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."

:: The FSAI operates an advice line on 1890 33 66 77 from 9am-5pm.

**Jayce_The_Ace**

Tesco Burgers - Low in fat, High in Shergar

**reds8n**

Yeah we've been having fun with this all day so far.

.. so much so we should probably rein it in.

The pig meat will be ~~what gets the lawyers~~ err.. what upsets people more IMO.

Guess the real worry is where ( and why) this horsemeat came from there's not really a big horsemeat market over here, AFAIK anyway.

**Jayce_The_Ace**

reds8n wrote:
Yeah we've been having fun with this all day so far.

.. so much so we should probably rein it in.

The pig meat will be ~~what gets the lawyers~~ err.. what upsets people more IMO.

Guess the real worry is where ( and why) this horsemeat came from there's not really a big horsemeat market over here, AFAIK anyway.

Yeah, no point in flogging a dead burger.

**sarpedons-right-hand**

That's what you get for buying cheap, gakky, reconstituted Supermarket Meat..... That's a pun by the way...

**reds8n**

I can't see people keeping this up furlong.

**sarpedons-right-hand**

I know, there's always a hurdle to a good pun....I expect people are Jockying for position to return these god awful slabs of meat...

I'm surprised the contents of these burgers didn't give people the trots...

**Snrub**

Mmm burgers. Someone pass the beetroot and dead 'orse.

(Not sure if anyone but the Aussies will get this.)

**KalashnikovMarine**

Didn't we just have a thread wherein most of the US posters were disgusted by the potential slaughter of wild horses for meat, while the EU and UK dakkanauts went on about how delicious it was?

Or is that my memory horsing around?

**Goliath**

Jayce_The_Ace wrote:
Yeah, no point in flogging a dead burger.

Aren't all burgers dead?

Also, this makes me glad I buy most of my meat from sainsburys. Eating this sort of burger would probably make my throat hurt and my voice go a little funny.*

*(I'd go a little Hoarse

)

**Avatar 720**

reds8n wrote:
I can't see people keeping this up furlong.

Neigh, I think the mane issue is that people are going to be champing at the bit to trot out entire lists of complaint at the hope that big supermarkets will hoof it.

I can already picture the veritable derby of people trying to shoe these companies away.

**Mr. Burning**

The veggies will become more vociferous in their cries.

'Meat is Redrum!'

**liturgies of blood**

Well horses don't have have common prion diseases that we know of so unlike the brazilian beef tesoc usually try to put in there it's probably better for you than that.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Mr. Burning wrote:
'Meat is Redrum!'

That must be the CJD kicking in from the tesco burgers they ate before conversion.

**Jayce_The_Ace**

Goliath wrote:
Jayce_The_Ace wrote:
Yeah, no point in flogging a dead burger.

Aren't all burgers dead?
)

In the MANE - yes

**kronk**

People have a fondness for horses, so finding out that their meat contains some horse really stirrups their emotions. I think their mane concern is that they may have had a plate or two of horse d'oeuvres already...

**Jayce_The_Ace**

I just found an old pack of Tesco burgers in my freezer, so I checked the sell by date........and they're off!!

**Avatar 720**

Jayce_The_Ace wrote:
I just found an old pack of Tesco burgers in my freezer, so I checked the sell by date........and they're off!!

Well played; gg.

**RossDas**

Burgers are such a grand national indulgence - we'll have to ride them hard over this.

**Mr. Burning**

There aintree things good about these puns, let alone one.

How many millions accidently.

**BlapBlapBlap**

And the problem is...?

As far as I can tell, it's just a battle of regulations over packaging. Of course, there's some religious problems, but mostly...

**Hlaine Larkin mk2**

I buy pretty much everything from Aldi

TBH the fact there's actually horse meat in them doesn't surprise me too much.

**Tibbsy**

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
I buy pretty much everything from Aldi
TBH the fact there's actually horse meat in them doesn't surprise me too much.

I might have bet on it... glad they're finally reining it in though

**RossDas**

Putting a general insistence upon knowing what I'm eating aside, I wouldn't be too bothered about eating horse - properly controlled. The problems arise when the animal is on a course of meds (e.g parasite killers) that simply aren't fit for human consumption.

**Da Boss**

If different meats are processed at the same plants, then it is not at all surprising that they get some cross contamination of DNA. It's not ideal but it's not surprising.

The horse thing is much more so, because it means some horse meat was being processed there, and no one in Ireland sells horse for meat. Wouldn't surprise me at all if there was some dodgy dealings going on, but really, being squeamish over this is silly. Intensive farming methods already do some pretty horrific things to animals and people are happy to chow down on the results of that if they don't know about it.

**liturgies of blood**

Da Boss wrote:
If different meats are processed at the same plants, then it is not at all surprising that they get some cross contamination of DNA. It's not ideal but it's not surprising.

The horse thing is much more so, because it means some horse meat was being processed there, and no one in Ireland sells horse for meat. Wouldn't surprise me at all if there was some dodgy dealings going on, but really, being squeamish over this is silly. Intensive farming methods already do some pretty horrific things to animals and people are happy to chow down on the results of that if they don't know about it.

Yes but we don't use those intensive farming methods.
We don't factory farm beef, we don't use growth hormones and we stopped feeding meat & bone meal to cattle. They are grazed in fields for most if not all of the year and fed silage for the rest or to supplement their diet.

**Palindrome**

Da Boss wrote:
If different meats are processed at the same plants, then it is not at all surprising that they get some cross contamination of DNA. It's not ideal but it's not surprising.

The horse thing is much more so, because it means some horse meat was being processed there, and no one in Ireland sells horse for meat. Wouldn't surprise me at all if there was some dodgy dealings going on, but really, being squeamish over this is silly. Intensive farming methods already do some pretty horrific things to animals and people are happy to chow down on the results of that if they don't know about it.

Actually it looks like the blame lies with suppliers to the companies involved. If they were from France for instance its not all that suprising that there would be contamination of horse meat. The odd one is the Burger that was 23% horse (at least 23% of the meat content).

**Da Boss**

I'm from Ireland too, and while we don't use intensive farming for cows, you're deluded if you think similar conditions don't exist for animals farmed in the country. The way sheep are farmed particularly leads to them being overwhelmed with diseases like sheepscab, primarily due to people keeping animals they are disinterested in due to quotas and so on.

Fish farming happens in ireland, and the conditions those fish live in are foul. Pig farming generally is pretty nasty, and it's pretty difficult to turn a profit on free range pigs.

And of course, not all the beef in ireland is actually irish, nor is all the pork. We have a better record on animal conditions than many places (often just due to the traditional nature of our farms and farmers) but the raw facts of agriculture mean being a little squeamish over eating horse is silly. What's more concerning is that it just wasn't supposed to be there. Was it incompetence or design?
But given there aren't exactly mass outbreaks of food borne diseases they can't be having that much of an effect.

**liturgies of blood**

Well other than the anti-biotic resistance I'm sure the horse meat is fine.

I know there are farms that are gak, I've worked on farms before. I know some dodgy farmers and most of that is down to the hobby farmers. A proper farm has to deal with the vets and department more regularly so they are under greater scrutiny. Also the abattoirs won't take mangy animals, they go to the dogs.

You should check out a properly run large scale pig farm. Not much of a smell in the sheds, clean animals and space for the animals to move and become delicious. Free range doesn't work for most of the breeds we farm these days commercially, there are a few reasons.
BTW just in case you don't know, pigs refuse to be near their waste, they roll in muck not filth as it is good for their skin. Similar to mud baths.

**Da Boss**

Hmmm. You may be right about pig farms, most of my experience was with sheep and cattle. Now that I think about it, the pig farm I was shown was in Denmark, not Ireland!(whoops!)

Agreed about the hobby farmers though. I did some work with the department of agriculture, and the trouble you have trying to get samples to test from farmers is unreal. I was testing for fluke (so, no harm to the farmer if I found it, he could just dose and increase yield) and it was a real struggle to get any sort of co-operation at times.

**liturgies of blood**

What part of the country were you working it out of interest?