Third of supermarket burgers contain horsemeat

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.

The burgers, sold as Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, were also found to contain pigmeat — even though pork was not mentioned on its label.

The investigation by food safety chiefs found that nearly a third of beef burgers for sale in supermarkets contained horsemeat while 85% contained pig DNA.

All of the other beef burgers that tested positive for horse DNA contained significantly less than the Tesco Everyday samples.

Beef burgers selling in Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi, and Iceland were found to contain horsemeat with Aldi’s Oakhurst Beef Burgers containing 0.3% horsemeat — the next highest percentage content.

A total of 27 beef burger products were analysed by food scientists. A total of 10 of the 27 products tested positive for horse DNA and 23 of the 27 burgers tested positive for pig DNA.

An examination of beef meal which is found in processed products such as lasagne, cottage pies, and beef curry pies, found 21 out of the 31 products examined contained pig DNA.

No horsemeat was found in these products however, and all 19 salami products tested were also negative for horse DNA.

The beef burgers were produced in two Irish processing plants, Silvercrest Foods and Liffey Meats, and one British plant, Dalepak Hambleton.

Silvercrest has come under particular scrutiny as the Tesco Everyday burgers emanated from here.

The FSAI is working with the Department of Agriculture, the processing plants, and the retailers involved, to work out where and when the horsemeat and pigmeat entered the processing system.

Tesco, Dunnes, Aldi, Lidl, and Iceland have removed all the implicated batches from sale.

Silvercrest Foods is also withdrawing all the affected products from sale and replacing them with new products.

Professor Alan Reilly, FSAI chief executive, said while the findings “pose no risk to public health they do raise some concerns”.

“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 horsemeat in their production process,” Prof Reilly said.

“In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger. Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pigmeat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable,” Prof Reilly added.

The FSAI and its official agencies carry out a number of surveys and studies each year as part of its food monitoring activities.