Records released by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) outline the various strands of investigation into the possible sources of horsemeat contamination, which has so far not led to any prosecutions.

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 Chief Executive of ABP, which owns Silvercrest Foods in Monaghan, has told a Commons Committee hearing into the horsemeat scandal- that the company had used non-approved suppliers.

The agricultural and food industries have been stalwarts of the economy since the foundation of the State.

The owner of McAdams Foods, the Monaghan company at the centre of the horsemeat controversy, has said he sourced products from Poland after clients requested lower-cost material.

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.

TDs are to launch a probe into how the horsemeat scare was allowed to threaten Ireland’s lucrative beef industry as they haul food company chiefs before them.

The value of contracts lost by Larry Goodman’s Silvercrest beef plant has topped €50m after Burger King cancelled its deal with the Monaghan factory.

The Unite trade union is seeking a meeting with management at the ABP group which owns the Silvercrest factory in Co Monaghan.

Tesco has pulled the plug on its €15m contract with Silvercrest following the horsemeat scandal as the Irish company braced itself for the possibility of Burger King following suit.

The British supermarket chain Co-Op is the latest to drop Silvercrest as a supplier of frozen burgers- after finding 17% horse DNA in a burger produced by them.

The ABP Food group has said it will not allow the "Slivercrest incident" at the centre of the recent horsemeat-in-burgers controversy to overshadow the whole business.

Tesco is to cease taking any products from frozen meat products supplier Silvercrest after what it calls a "great breach of trust" in the recent horsemeat controversy.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said the discovery of the source of horsemeat content in Tesco burgers was “vindication” for the Irish food industry, as he signalled serious changes at production firm Silvercrest.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney says his department has made a major breakthrough in tracing the source of the horse meat found in Irish beefburgers.

Preliminary test results on burgers manufactured at the Silvercrest facility in Co Monaghan have shown no evidence of horse DNA in raw materials sourced in Ireland.

The latest round of test results on burger samples from an Irish processing plant may be released today.

Test results due to be released today should prove whether or not a food additive sourced overseas was the cause of the 29% horse DNA content in a budget Tesco burger.

Dutch food safety watchdogs have indicated that more than one company in the Netherlands is the focus of the investigation into the possible source of horsemeat content in Tesco budget burgers.

It has been reported today that fast food chain Burger King is to stop sourcing burgers from the Larry Goodman owned company ABP, in light of the recent horsemeat scandal.

The latest batch of beef burgers tested for horsemeat content show no presence of equine DNA, according to laboratory results released last night.

A second round of tests at a food processing firm embroiled in controversy over horse DNA in beef products have come back negative.

Dutch food safety watchdogs have been drafted in as part of the investigation into the contamination of Irish beef burgers with horsemeat, in a move that places a Dutch company at the centre of the probe.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said today that says the investigation into how horsemeat got into burgers made and sold here is "making progress".

The Monaghan plant at the centre of the burger scandal has stopped all production after the Department of Agriculture confirmed new samples contained further traces of horse DNA.

Food producers are not required, under existing regulations, to check the content of what they add to burgers, it has emerged.

The burger manufacturing firm at the centre of the horse meat contamination controversy yesterday said it was installing a new testing regime for meat products which will include DNA analysis.

Test results are expected today which will show whether horse meat was confined to one batch of burgers or was knowingly imported by the beef factory which made them.

It’s a question of traceability as Conor Ryan plots the route taken by the Food Safety Authority which led to it discovering horse and pig DNA in burgers

Vets from the Department of Agriculture are taking samples and interviewing management from one of the country’s biggest processing plants to establish how horse meat ended up in beef burgers.

Tesco Ireland said last night it will not take any more stock from the Co Monaghan factory which produced the burgers until it learns how the horse meat got into the burgers.

Beef burgers for sale in Irish branches of Tesco were found to contain 29% horsemeat, after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) did a spot-check on beef products for sale in supermarkets.

Horse meat has been found in a number of beef burgers sold widely in our supermarkets.