Food safety tsar calls for new testing systems

The head of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said the horsemeat scandal has become a Europe-wide problem and testing systems must be put in place to ensure the integrity of processed food.

Prof Alan Reilly’s call came as it was claimed yesterday that the Findus lasagnes that have been found to contain up to 100% horsemeat may have been contaminated since the middle of the summer.

Last night, Aldi said it had withdrawn its Today’s Special frozen beef lasagne and Today’s Special frozen spaghetti bolognese from shops as tests showed they contained 30% to 100% horsemeat.

An Aldi spokesman said it was “completely unacceptable” and the company felt “angry and let down” by its supplier, from which it will no longer purchase. A full refund will be given on the products.

Prof Reilly said the Findus product was on sale in Tesco up to Wednesday of this week and that FSAI suspected there were small quantities in other retailers.

He also said Tesco did not tell FSAI when it received notification that the Findus product needed to be withdrawn.

However, in a statement Tesco said: “Following notification from the Findus Group on Monday, we immediately withdrew the Findus lasagne product, and on Tuesday, the Tesco Value spaghetti bolognese (produced in the same factory), as a precautionary measure. There was no intentional delay in informing the FSAI, as this is not required under agreed protocols.”

FSAI said consumers who have the Findus product should not eat it and should return to the shop they bought it in order to get a refund. That is particularly because the products have not been tested for veterinary drug phenylbutazone or “bute”, which Prof Reilly said posed a small food safety risk.

He said that when FSAI started its probe into meat content in November “we really did not know what type of problem we were going to uncover”.

“If you look at Findus and Tesco, they are two of the biggest brands we have and if they cannot have a secure supply line for their products and a secure system to manufacture their products, we do have a major problem in this sector of the trade.”

He said many retailers are now reviewing their products in the wake of the revelations: “It does look like we have a Europe-wide incident not just confined to Ireland. This has now spread to France, Luxembourg, the UK, Poland are now involved and we have seen the Netherlands. It really is a Europe wide problem.”

Picture: Gourmet Burger on South William St, Dublin, wryly assures customers that there is no horsemeat in its products. Picture: Collins