More food products withdrawn from North Lincolnshire stores after horse meat is found
More food products have been withdrawn from sale after being found to contain high levels of horse meat.
Tests on all processed beef products have been ordered by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) after some Findus lasagnes were found to contain 100 per cent horsemeat.
The firm said its affected products were made by a third-party French supplier and the meals have been withdrawn from shop shelves.
Tesco, which has stores in Scunthorpe, Brigg, Ashby, Barton-Upon-Humber and Crowle, has withdrawn a range of meals produced by the French supplier Comigel.
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They include the supermarket giant's Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese, which is produced at the same site as the Findus beef lasagne.
A Tesco spokesman said there was no evidence its product had been contaminated but it was being withdrawn pending test results.
Discount chain Aldi, which has shops in Scunthorpe, Brigg and Barton, has also withdrawn products as a precautionary measure.
An Aldi spokesman said: "Following an alert from our French supplier, Comigel, Aldi immediately withdrew its Today's Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today's Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese from stores as a precautionary measure.
"Comigel has flagged concerns that the products do not conform to specification.
"They have been withdrawn immediately so that Aldi can conduct its own investigations into the factory concerned. These investigations are continuing.
"We will continue to maintain active scrutiny across our supply lines and will always put the quality of our products and safety of our customers first.
A Findus UK spokesman said: "Deserving consumers' trust is a key priority for us.
"As part of that commitment, we have been constantly reviewing our supply chain."
In a statement, the FSA said it had no evidence to suggest a food safety risk but it had ordered Findus to carry out tests for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or 'bute'.
Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain as it may pose a risk to human health.
And agency bosses said they were now demanding a more comprehensive meat testing programme from food businesses.
Catherine Brown, chief executive of the FSA, said: 'Following our investigations into Findus products, the FSA is now requiring a more robust response from the food industry in order to demonstrate that the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label.
"We are demanding that food businesses conduct authenticity tests on all beef products, such as beef burgers, meatballs and lasagne, and provide the results to the FSA.
"The tests will be for the presence of significant levels of horse meat."
Results from the tests must be provided to the FSA by Friday, February 15.
6 Comments
by Pizik
Saturday, February 09 2013, 6:14PM
“Really couldn't care less if burgers etc. are bulked up with horse meat. I would rather it was meat than the junk they throw in these products usually to reduce meat content / costs.”
by asinal
Friday, February 08 2013, 1:10PM
“If you have eaten a large amount of these products recently then you may want to put your name down to run the Grand National. lol”
by BrianPotter4
Friday, February 08 2013, 1:06PM
“We have probably all unwittingly eaten horse meat at some point...who cares? If it tastes good, eat it!”
by JohnJohn2011
Friday, February 08 2013, 11:51AM
“Really people should not be too concerned about eating horse meat as long as it is deemed safe to eat by humans. The products that have been removed from the shops concerned should be put back up for sale if safe and labelled accordingly so we all know what we are buying. Questions however do need to be asked why that at these processing plants were Lorries allowed to off load their cargo of meat product before samples were taken and tested in the labs. If the testing time would be days instead of hours then all the delivered meats should quarantined until tests proved the meat was as it should be. Also some would say that horse meat has been introduced into the food chain labelled as beef to make extra profits for those involved in the food processing industry. Indeed some would also say that by doing these underhand methods is a way of hiding food price inflation which is been kept hidden by smaller pack sizes for the same retail purchase price. It could be also the same thing by bulking out portion size by using inferior products to make up weight of products to be sold to the general public.
People need to wake up as this type of thing is happening all the time, it is happening by watering down milk, beer, wine, alcohol products, juices, smoothies. Snack food packs are smaller as is most other packed food items. Problem is people are going to get poorer year on year for the next 20 years or until the whole system implodes, after which no body knows what will happen”
by WNxbadboy3
Friday, February 08 2013, 11:00AM
“all you had in the old days is horse meat. so what's all the fuss about. just tastes nice as beef.”
by FHall
Friday, February 08 2013, 10:40AM
“Is this not National? Why is this different to the M6 blizzard?”