Food firm admits it ‘fell short’ in actions on horsemeat

QK Meats, a food company that knew about horsemeat contamination of its beef supply months before the Department of Agriculture discovered it, has admitted its actions in failing to notify the authorities “fell short”.

However, ABP Food Group, also under investigation over the scandal, last night said it was “bitterly disappointed” by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney’s statement to the Dáil on Thursday and critical references to the company made in a report by his department.

“ABP operates to the very highest standards of management and governance, but the controls in the case of Silvercrest let the company down,” the food group said, in a statement.

ABP said it welcomed the acknowledgement in the report that its plant at Nenagh, as the company maintained from the outset, was not the source of the meat containing equine DNA in a bolognese product sold in the UK.

ABP also said it found it extraordinary that another food operator was aware of equine contamination in the beef supply chain for many months without making the authorities or the industry aware.

“Had the authorities been aware the issue could have been managed very differently and the risk to the Irish agri-food sector significantly reduced,” it said.

Earlier, in a statement, QK Meats said: “We have apologised to the department for this, deeply regret it and any breach of trust which it has caused given our commitment to food quality and safety.”

The company, based in Naas, Co Kildare, said it had immediately removed the contaminated consignment from production and had never knowingly used horsemeat in its beef products.

But the fact the firm uncovered the problem at its plant in June last year when the Department of Agriculture only made its first finding elsewhere in December means valuable time was lost in investigating the issue and trying to put a stop to the illegal practices behind it.

QK only shared its findings with the Department on Feb 5 this year when the wider problem was already public knowledge. Mr Coveney described the delay in notifying the department as inexcusable.

“I don’t think they have broken the law but I am very unhappy with the way in which they operated. They clearly suspected the product they were importing from Poland wasn’t of the quality it should be. They didn’t tell us.”

QK beef products containing horsemeat ended up in school meals in the UK and in Birds Eye frozen meals but it is not clear when that beef entered the food chain.

QK Meats, along with Ossory Meats and the ABP Food Group, were heavily criticised for shortcomings in quality control in a department report this week. But while Mr Coveney said Garda investigations were under way, prosecutions could prove difficult because of the international dimension to investigations.

“In relation to Ossory Meats, they are simply the facility that slaughters horses,” he said. “It’s the people who bring the horses in under false passports who are breaking the law and if a passport was signed off by a vet as every passport needs to be, that’s also an offence so there is a whole trail for us to follow and we will be doing that.”