Iceland chief sorry over Irish comments

The boss of a frozen food supermarket chain has apologised for comments he made about “the Irish” as Britain seriously ramps up its testing for horse meat.

The British Food Safety Authority has widened its survey of meat products to ensure a wider range of products are sampled including pre-packed beef-based foods that are sold loosely, such as coffee shop sandwiches.

A total of 514 products will now be tested for traces of horsemeat, the British FSA said.

These include products marketed or labelled as containing beef as a major ingredient.

Products such as gelatine, beef dripping, stock cubes, steak, stewing steak, and ready meals which contain beef that is not minced are included.

Meanwhile, Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker said he was deeply sorry if he caused offence with remarks about the Irish food testing that he made to the BBC’s Panorama programme.

Mr Walker suggested that DNA testing for horsemeat on behalf of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) had been carried out in unaccredited labs.

“Iceland and our chief executive, Malcolm Walker, are deeply sorry for any offence caused by his TV interview last night,” said a company spokesman.

“His comments were not intended to be disrespectful to the Irish people, including our many Irish customers, colleagues, and suppliers, or to the Irish food safety authorities.

“We hold all of these in the very highest regard.”

Mr Walker had been asked to explain why Iceland burgers passed British tests for equine DNA but failed the Irish tests.

He replied: “Well, that’s the Irish, isn’t it?”

Elsewhere, the world’s biggest food company Nestlé confirmed that three of its products were recalled in France, Italy, and Spain. They had not been on sale in Ireland.

The company said in a statement on its website that it had enhanced its testing after reports first emerged about the fraudulent mislabelling of beef.

“We are now suspending deliveries of all our finished products produced using beef supplied by a German firm, HJ Schypke, a subcontractor of one of our suppliers, JBS Toledo,” it said.

The levels found were above the 1% threshold.

“There is no food safety issue, but the mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us,” said a spokesman.