Food safety officials in Britain raided two plants yesterday in the latest development in the investigation into the illegal trade of horsemeat.

The Irish beef trader named as the supplier of horsemeat by ABP Food Group has said he is confident of being fully exonerated when investigations are complete.

Garda investigators have a major task on their hands to establish when and where Polish beef was fraudulently replaced with horsemeat.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has committed to resolving the horse meat crisis after food safety chiefs warned of fraudsters drip-feeding contaminated product into the food chain.

The Garda Fraud Squad has been called in to investigate the deepening horsemeat scandal after beef product at a Monaghan processing plant was found to contain 75% equine DNA.