ABP chief executive Paul Finnerty — whose company supplied Tesco with beef burgers that turned out to be 29% horsemeat — has told Britain’s food committee it became clear on Jan 14 to 15 that the firm was “out of specification” because product was coming in from a combination of suppliers that were not approved.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland yesterday issued a new protocol for testing the authenticity of foods as gardaí turned their attention to a Tipperary meat plant as part of the investigation into the horsemeat saga.