The Irish government kept the horsemeat burger scandal from the public for almost four weeks, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has admitted.
The Fine Gael Minister has confirmed that his agriculture department had known since before Christmas about the test results showing trace of horsemeat in beef burgers.
As 10 million burgers were removed from sale, industry experts warned of dire consequences for Ireland’s beef exporters and Prime Minister Enda Kenny vowed to take action.
The Irish Independent reports that Minister Coveney is in the line of fire after it discovered that the Department of Agriculture was contacted on December 21 for assistance by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland which in turn had received early test results in November.
The paper says that it has also emerged that one of the firms involved in the controversy had been audited just last month by his Department of Agriculture.
The government has now called on food board Bord Bia to repair the damage to an industry which employs over 100,000 people and it worth over $4billion to the Irish economy.
Read more: Horse and pig DNA found in Irish supermarkets’ beef burgers
Opposition politicians have demanded to know why Coveney’s department kept the revelations quiet for almost a month.
But the Minister has maintained that there had been no food safety risk and that there had been a need to carry out further testing.
He said: “If you get a result like this, and there’s no danger to human health, which there isn’t, but if there is a significant reputational threat to an industry, you have to make sure those results are accurate.”
The scandal has even been debated in the British House of Commons where British Prime Minister David Cameron described it as a ‘completely unacceptable state of affairs.’
Supermarket chain Tesco has taken out a series of newspaper adverts to apologise to customers for the traces of horsemeat and pork in beef burgers on sale on its shelves.
Shares in Tesco dropped 0.7 per cent on the London stock market, a reduction of up to $500 million.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has confirmed to the Irish Independent that it had got initial findings about the presence of horse meat in beef burgers at the end of November.
Read more Irish politics news here
Ray Ellard, director of consumer protection, told the paper it had been crucial to get laboratory verification.
Ellard said: “When you go to companies with findings like this the first line of defence they give is always that your lab is rubbish and your results aren’t valid.”
Investigations are now focusing on the extra protein additive used to hold the beef burgers together.
Minister Coveney said it had been imported from the Netherlands and Spain, although he cautioned against ‘scapegoating’ these countries before the investigation was completed.
Coveney added: “There is no evidence so far to show the two Irish processing plants that produced the burgers, Liffey Meats in Cavan and Silvercrest Foods in Monaghan, had knowingly brought in horse meat to use in their burgers.
"We are confident this will not hamper efforts to break into the lucrative Chinese and US markets.
“Most of the meat product that gets exported out of Ireland is chilled fresh meat. This is a frozen burger market.”
14 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jacersagain | Jan 18, 2013, 05:08 PM EST
LOL @ some of the comments… Townies’ “jobs at Steak”... lurve it! And Scrivner’s post… brill! Angrypaddy’s comment is way off the mark… there’s no B/S in any burger but apparently lots in what he writes! Actually, there is no harm in horse meat or pig meat provided they’re not contaminated. Both are consumed as meats in their own right, horsemeat being leaner (less fat) than beef, a point in its favour and is as commonly eaten in some European countries as beef and pig meats are in Ireland.
IrelandNorth | Jan 18, 2013, 03:05 AM EST
First we had Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongieform Encephalitis BSE)). Then poltry started goin' bananas with Asian flu (Mad Chicken Disease MCD). Now we have a case of Species Identity Disorder (bovines who thought they were equines). It's like a nightmare from George Orwell's Animal Farm. Take my advice, go veggie. At least you won't go thalidomide, even with GM, as far as I know.
angrypaddy | Jan 18, 2013, 01:11 AM EST
You have been listening to B/S so long now you ere eating it lol
Towngate | Jan 17, 2013, 08:05 PM EST
In a country awash with clapped-out knackered racehorses and such, its wonderful to think that we had to import some to bulk up our burgers! Ellard was right to be cautious - 100,000 jobs at Steak!!
seamus60 | Jan 17, 2013, 07:37 PM EST
You only have to look at the collamedy with the "one of your five a day" or even best before. Any way all they have to say is that the beef in each burger is 100% beef. lol
Scrivner | Jan 17, 2013, 05:50 PM EST
In France they complain about beeef being in their horsemeat. Go figure.
Paul Hogan | Jan 17, 2013, 04:26 PM EST
I they sure it was not Donkey Meat. Isold Two Donkies to A Fine Gael T.D when I was Home in Cavan Last Year.
merefalow | Jan 17, 2013, 02:29 PM EST
we havent a clue what goes into our food ,if people could see slaughter houses and methods of food production they would turn veggie.now we gm food put in to and we dont know what how or when or how much,not till we start growing mutated limbs.remember soylent green?
IrelandNorth | Jan 17, 2013, 02:29 PM EST
Looks to me like burgers were being beefed up with cheaper meat for economic reasons. Trying to discern what you're eating and/or drinking is challenging, in that typpe ingredients are printed in is usually so small, you'f need an electron micoscope to read it. Play it safe and go veggie!
gobdawpaddy | Jan 17, 2013, 01:26 PM EST
Apparently Minister Coveney wasn't advised about this matter until monday, sharing the information with his cabinet colleagues that afternoon. it may have been prudent for someone at the department of agriculture to give him the 'heads up' about the investigation. Coveney is an intelligent guy, in my opinion one of the smartest at the Irish cabinet table and I hope he is not made a scapegoat over this.
irishamerica46 | Jan 17, 2013, 12:08 PM EST
Many mixers have meat grinder attachments. Grind your own beef and make your own burgers.Then you'll know what you're eating.
cabbagehead44 | Jan 17, 2013, 11:15 AM EST
This is similar to the pink slime story that has been going on.
Canadian | Jan 17, 2013, 11:15 AM EST
An earlier report said that there was 29% horsemeat in a sample of Tesco's burger. It is hard to believe that this huge amount is the "binder" that is used to hold the patty together, which is what this article alludes to. One other thing: There was no safety issue so there was no immediate reaction. However, there was no scientific evidence to say this.
gobdawpaddy | Jan 17, 2013, 10:47 AM EST
The headline here may be a littlemisleading. While I accept that the Department of Agriculture is a government department, from what I have read of this matter, Coveney was only notified last friday and he informed his cabinet colleagues at their meeting on monday. If this is the correct chronology, whoever delayed informing the minister should suffer the consequences.Of course this is a civil servant in Ireland. The culture there dictates that no-one will face any consequences.