Horse burger must be thoroughly investigated
The only epidemic involved has been one of bad jokes. “Beef or Salmon is a horse, Beef and Horse is a Burger.” Or “Two burgers please... hold the dressage.”
Or “I had a burger yesterday, I’ve still got a bit between my teeth!”
It may also have helped that the general public has a knowledge of forensic techniques from TV programmes like CSI.
So a lot of people know — as Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney pointed out — a refrigerated lorry that carried pigmeat a few weeks previously could still contain pig molecules (DNA is a molecule encoding genetic instructions) after being power-hosed and cleaned.
Pig DNA in paper used to pack halal products in Germany was an earlier false alarm, having come from grease used to lubricate machinery.
One burger had 15% pig DNA, but it subsequently emerged that the label stated that it contained pigmeat.
Some experts believe horse DNA could come from brushes (which contain horse hair) used to clean meat processing machinery.
But what can’t be explained is 29.1% horse DNA in one burger, which indicates that 20% of it was horse meat.
It was a frozen product with 63% meat, and other ingredients including onion and filler protein which should have been beef-sourced.
But it’s not unprecedented, with 12% of salamis found to contain horse meat in a 2003 investigation by local authorities in the north of England.
How the 20% horse burger came about must be thoroughly investigated and explained — to assure consumers, and ensure that the huge expense and effort sparked off so far by the burger controversy is not in vain.
The FSAI has noted that research is required to determine if there are thresholds below which cross-contamination with DNA is unavoidable.
This information will help ABP Food Group to go ahead with their plan to implement a new testing regime for meat products, which will include DNA analysis.
This is a commendable step by the company, showing they are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to avoid a repeat of this controversy — even though DNA testing is not required in EU legislation, and is not generally in use in respect of food production and safety.
Nor was mandatory withdrawal of implicated products from sale by either the food manufacturers or retailers required. Nevertheless, it went ahead, at great expense, in the interests of their customers’ expectations.
The burger incident involved a small segment of the Irish food industry.
The vast majority of the beef we export to 165 different countries is fresh meat.
However, Minister Simon Coveney says every consumer, regardless of what he or spends on food from Ireland, is entitled to the same assurances and quality control systems.
No less a commitment is necessary to uphold the reputation of our food industry — which thankfully, appears to have survived relatively unscathed so far, if one is to judge from our beef trade this week, which seems to have been little affected, and where the unfavourable exchange rate trends seem more of a worry than the burger controversy.
