The Irish Food Safety Authority (FSAI) of Ireland has announced that horse and pig meat was found in some beef burgers in major Irish supermarkets.
These burgers were on sale in supermarket chains Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland. The meat came from Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods meat processing plants, in Ireland, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in the United Kingdom.
According to the analysis of the 27 products which were tested, ten contained horse DNA while 23 out of the 27 contained pig. One sample taken from Tesco showed it was 29 percent horse.
FSAI Chief Executive Prof Alan Reilly said, “There is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horse meat in their production process.
"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 pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable."
The findings do not pose a risk to the public’s health. However it raises concern over the traceability of the meat.
Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said the findings are “totally unacceptable.” He has vowed to get to the bottom of the issue.
These results were returned by the FSAI burger survey.
John Bryan, the Irish Farmer’s Association President, expressed his surprise and concern, according to RTE. He said the mixed meat products did not come from Irish farmers and added that Irish farmers had gone to great expense to ensure full traceability of all animals.
Silvercrest Food told RTE they suspect “third party suppliers.” They said the company has never “purchased or traded in equine product.”
A spokesperson for Silvercrest Food said the company “has launched a full-scale investigation into two continental European third party suppliers who are the suspected source of the product in question."
Tesco supermarkets said those brands effect were Tesco Everyday Value brand and Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders. Aldi removed the Oakhurst brand of beef burgers and announced their customers can receive a full refund.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.nosoupforU | Jan 20, 2013, 04:30 PM EST
What do you want on your burger?? Put a saddle on it!
nosoupforU | Jan 20, 2013, 04:30 PM EST
What do you want on your burger?? Put a saddle on it!
uRsSG7uy | Jan 19, 2013, 02:39 AM EST
Have they tested for pigeon, person and rat yet?
seanomelb | Jan 17, 2013, 06:15 PM EST
Lettuce pray for more meat
an seabhach | Jan 17, 2013, 11:31 AM EST
If we don't crack down on horsemeat in burgers, next we'll have to deal with seahorses in frozen shrimp. On second thoughts, its really just a matter of cultural practice. We discriminate against horsemeat here in the the US, as we do in Ireland and the UK. Whereas in Continental Europe they have Equine Opportunity.
IrelandNorth | Jan 17, 2013, 03:13 AM EST
A little boy came running from the kitchen into the living room and told his mother with great alarm that there was a dead animal in the fridge. She rushed to see what he meant, reassuring him that that's not a dead animal. It's only meat!" Aggressive vegetarians of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) used to daub butchers shops around the Dublin of my youth with red painted graphitti screaming - "Meat means murder!" Hmmm! Food for thought?
seanomelb | Jan 16, 2013, 08:18 PM EST
A roo burger is healthy no fat and tastes great. I remember a hose butchers shop in Nth greta fredrick street near Findlaters church and one in Denmark st. Limerick city. The brits lived on Irish horsemeat during WW2.
cillowen | Jan 16, 2013, 05:57 PM EST
Their FISH and CHIPS meal over there is really shark and chips. Who knew??
cillowen | Jan 16, 2013, 05:48 PM EST
They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine. One day a little boy came walking in the store. He bought a pound of sausage and dropped it on the floor. Then he began to whistle, he whistled up a tune, The sausage, it jumped up, they barked, they danced 'round the room.
cillowen | Jan 16, 2013, 05:47 PM EST
Dunderback, oh Dunderback, how could you be so mean To ever have invented the sausage meat machine? Now long tailed rats and cats will never more be seen, They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine.
cillowen | Jan 16, 2013, 05:38 PM EST
Horse and pig and donkey too I'd bet - the Tiger era led to a frenzy by folks to acquire all manner of animals - surely those who were left to fend for themselves after the belly up occurred lived to become the chopped meat in a bun. Hew haw. Neigh?
seamus60 | Jan 16, 2013, 05:20 PM EST
The bigger issue might be just how long this has been going on. Surely the processors should be carrying out checks on imported products on a dailly basis.
seamus60 | Jan 16, 2013, 04:20 PM EST
I spent 20 years working in the meatpacking industry and I say that the packers knew exactly what was in their product...unless they were getting bulk boneless meat in boxes and then grinding it inhouse...and the third parties were mislabeling meat....heads will roll over this one....
seanomelb | Jan 16, 2013, 04:19 PM EST
Pulled down the bed blanket this morning and found 3 dead burgers in my bed. Must've been put their by woundedknee
IrelandNorth | Jan 16, 2013, 02:40 PM EST
Al Halal just ain't kosher! Seriously though, if yer gonna eat fried sliced dead cows, why not fried sliced dead horses. Is there an appreciable difference? Is that not animal discrimination? Why not rats, like the boys in the trenches in WWI? Or live monkey brains, as in the Far East. (The further the better). Or dead dogs as in Vietnam. Meat eaters are proto cannibals. Play it safe, and go veggie like me!
kilaspy | Jan 16, 2013, 02:29 PM EST
Whats wrong with horse meat?. The older readers should remember all the horses that were shipped to England to be slaughtered after the war.Horse meat is very low in fat and high in iron. If you knew what goes into meat pies and sausages you would never eat them.
Towngate | Jan 16, 2013, 12:01 PM EST
This story has caused a Pun-Fest in the british Aisles: some Favourites are: Breaking News: Traces of zebras found in Supermarket barcodes! - I checked my burgers and found 'they’re off!' - Someone may be sending me death threats: I woke up with a Hamburger on my pillow! - I insist my horse burger bun is thoroughbread! - Low in fat -high in Shergar! - Will Derby be a stew-ards inquiry? ~~~~~~~~ We can take comfort to know that Nialls nags finished up better dead than they ever did when alive!
Portia_O'Neill | Jan 16, 2013, 09:36 AM EST
Horses are usually quite old when sent to the slaughter house and it must effect the taste of the meat. It's disgusting.
STEVENSTAR | Jan 16, 2013, 09:13 AM EST
JUST TO CONFIRM AGAIN THAT WE DO NOT EAT HORSE MEAT IN IRELAND OR IN THE UK...OK MAYBE IN THE REST OF EUROPE PLACES LIKE FRANCE DO.. BUT ITS NOT IN OUR CULTURE TO EAT HORSE MEAT AND IT ACTUALLY TURNS MY STOMACH AS IT DOES MOST IRISH PEOPLE.. THERE IS UPROAR OVER HERE TODAY ABOUT THIS AND TESCO WHICH IS A BRITISH STORE ONE OF THE BIGGEST FOOD RETAILERS IN IRELAND AND ALDI AND LIDL WHICH ARE GERMAN STORES ALL THE MEAT HAS BEEN REMOVED...I PERSONALLY DONT BUT CHEAP BURGRS BUT ITS DISGUSTING TO THINK THAT PEOPLE ARE EATING HORSES..AND IM SURE TESCO WILL HAVE A MASSIVE PROBLEM ON THEIR HANDS AFTER THIS REVELATION...