Tesco clears shelves of "horse meat" burgers

6:53am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in News

Traces of horse meat have been found in burgers on sale in some of the UK's busiest supermarkets.

Scientific tests on beef products sold in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores uncovered low levels of the animal's DNA.

A total of 27 products were tested, with ten of them containing horse DNA and 23 pig DNA. Horsemeat accounted for approximately 29% of the meat content in one sample from Tesco.

This morning Tesco has cleared its shelves of all the affected products. 

Customers at Tesco in Bournemouth square were not impressed at the news.

Perry Wardell-Wicks, 25, a designer at a local publisher said “I had no idea at all. I don’t really buy burgers from Tesco but it’s pretty worrying though isn’t it.”

Chanel Benton, 23, a carer from Christchurch, said “God knows what is in everything else. I know about the story and it’s disgusting. Now I’ll just be going into Tesco to buy scratch cards and energy drinks.”

Katharine Bee, 22, of Bournemouth, a retail assistant “It’s a bit weird. It’s not just not right and I wouldn’t buy everyday value products ever again.”

Peter Davis, 34, a local support worker from Bournemouth, condemned the criticism Tesco have been getting.

He said “I think it’s great. Why is it wrong to eat cows and not horse’s meat? It’s a social issue and for me, meat is meat."

Adam Marsh, 32, of the Parks Department Bournemouth said “If I did buy burgers from Tesco it would bother me, I mean, it is nice to know what is in your burger and this will probably mean what is them gets named.

Professor Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, which did the tests, said there was no health risk but also no reasonable explanation for horse meat to be found.

He said: "The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried."

"Whilst there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, 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.

"It is not in our culture to eat horse meat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger."

The retailers have told food safety chiefs they are removing all implicated products from their shelves.

Prof Reilly said traces of other meats would be unacceptable for people who may not eat certain food on religious grounds. He added: "Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable."

Beef burger products which tested positive for horse DNA were produced by Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and one UK plant, Dalepak Hambleton. Silvercrest said it was pulling products from sale and replacing them with new lines.

Some 31 beef meal products such as cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne were tested, with 21 found to be positive for pig DNA. All tested negative for horse meat.

The DNA tests found horse in the following products: Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers 29.1%; Tesco Beef Quarter Pounders 0.1%; Oakhurst Beef Burgers in Aldi 0.3%; Moordale Quarter Pounders in Lidl 0.1%; Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders in Dunnes Stores 0.1%; two varieties of Iceland Quarter Pounders 0.1%. Even lower levels were recorded in Moordale Beef Burgers in Lidl and St Bernard Beef Burgers in Dunnes Stores.

Comments(28)

gal4.7 says...
7:10am Wed 16 Jan 13

Just a thought. Is horse meat cheaper?

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jeebuscripes says...
7:41am Wed 16 Jan 13

What do you really expect when the burgers are so cheap and nasty.

Who honestly eats Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers?

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Chardonnaychar says...
7:50am Wed 16 Jan 13

All those horses though! It makes you think what they went through - how awful!
But I do think horses might be nicer in the fields than cows anyway and the manure is better to put on vegetable plots so is it time for us to just get on with it and switch to horses anyway?
Just a thought, but I don't think people like much change at the best of times!!!

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RageAgainstTheMachine says...
8:08am Wed 16 Jan 13

jeebuscripes wrote:
What do you really expect when the burgers are so cheap and nasty.

Who honestly eats Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers?
I know plenty of people who buy that type of s@@@@ as it leaves more money to spend on value larger and cheapo tobacco!

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l'anglais says...
8:20am Wed 16 Jan 13

You've all lost the plot.
Not one mention of why profit orientated institutions immorally take short cuts to reach their eldorado.

They made £1.6bn profit in the six months up to August 2012.
How do you think they made such a colossal sum? By being completely legitimate in all every action.

There is nothing wrong with eating Horse meat, as long as it's labelled as such.

The issue here is when Capitalist orientated structures pays out their dividends the share holders will not care a less whether it is horse's meat or dogs meat.

A few day's bad press is nothing compared to £3bn profit each year.

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Carolyn43 says...
8:20am Wed 16 Jan 13

If you eat processed meat, you can't be sure what you're eating. Many years ago I had experience of mislabelling and have never bought anything carrying the Tesco label since.

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Lord Spring says...
8:24am Wed 16 Jan 13

I wondered why I was galloping alang and jumping over fences.

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Lord Spring says...
8:26am Wed 16 Jan 13

Lord Spring wrote:
I wondered why I was galloping alang and jumping over fences.
Dread being gelded

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WhatTheHuck says...
8:37am Wed 16 Jan 13

What are people complaining about? I'd be glad that's all they found in a "value" burger.

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Huey says...
8:43am Wed 16 Jan 13

I don't like horses - dangerous things - and I find it funny that people have been eating them.
I hope I got some.
Probably safer than eating beef anyway.
Who gets mad horse disease?
No one.
That's who.

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H2o-hara says...
9:01am Wed 16 Jan 13

I thought horse meat was a delicacy nowadays .

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Professor Zaroff says...
9:02am Wed 16 Jan 13

I am aware that I ate meat that included horse on at least one occasion. Mind you I did buy the steak from a horse butcher in Normandy.

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Couchy125 says...
9:40am Wed 16 Jan 13

It's probably 2/1 on that everybody has had horse meat at some time without knowing it. Make Sure you cook it right otherwise you may get the trots.

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rusty james says...
9:50am Wed 16 Jan 13

Low in fat, high in Shergar.

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mikey2gorgeous says...
10:19am Wed 16 Jan 13

With apologies to Tarrantino...

"Know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in England?"

"No?"

"Cheval with cheese"

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jeebuscripes says...
10:42am Wed 16 Jan 13

Chanel Benton, 23, a carer from Christchurch, said “God knows what is in everything else. I know about the story and it’s disgusting. Now I’ll just be going into Tesco to buy scratch cards and energy drinks.”

I LOVE THIS QUOTE.

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really?? seriously?? says...
10:46am Wed 16 Jan 13

STOP NAGGING!!!

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Tripod says...
10:56am Wed 16 Jan 13

Gives a whole new meaning to "My Lidl Pony" ;-)

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The Renegade Master says...
11:02am Wed 16 Jan 13

The French eat horse meat all the time. It forms a part of their stable diet.

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groveswhitnall says...
11:34am Wed 16 Jan 13

Sounds Like A Right Classy Bird............"Cha
nel Benton, 23, a carer from Christchurch, said “God knows what is in everything else. I know about the story and it’s disgusting. Now I’ll just be going into Tesco to buy scratch cards and energy drinks."

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Phixer says...
1:02pm Wed 16 Jan 13

If only she knew what chemicals have been pumped into her drinks!

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Phixer says...
1:04pm Wed 16 Jan 13

I've knowingly eaten horse meat; very nice and tender. What's all the fuss about eating horses?

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kingstonpaul says...
1:26pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Thing is, this isn't confined to just cheap burgers. In fact horse meatr is the least of our worries, it's all the other nasty animal bits that make their way into the food chain that should worry us.
We should be very aware of anything containing minced meat product - mincemeat, pies, burgers, ready meals, etc, etc. The number of times I've used so-called 'lean' mince meat that is laced with the most ghastly, inedible grissle. Meat pies (from Birds Eye) that are unfit for human consumption, with fillings that are clearly made from the stuff that even the pet-food factory rejects.
These minced products are an easy outlet for all manner of scams, for the obvious reason that it's easy to disguise the crap stuff. The reality is that the supermarkest just can't keep a close enough watch on what goes into meat products. And it's a given that the bribery and corruption that accompanies the meat manufacturing industry (an industry that thinks it's OK to sell chicken with 50% water) means that the formal controls are easily bypassed.

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John T says...
3:29pm Wed 16 Jan 13

What's all the beefing about?
Every little helps....to make Tesco billions of pounds of profit!

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bosco1 says...
3:51pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Well I went down to Tesco Bournemouth with the burgers I had Frozen.Customer services took them back gave me a complete refund with no problem, in fact most helpfull as its not the staff who are at fault. However a chap in front asking to see the Manager as he was annoyed that his children had been poisened..! I hear a compensation claim in the distance.!! My thought were what a Pl***er he is and left...I mean Galloped out of the store>!!

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Sovietobserver says...
3:55pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Traces of zebras have been discovered in Tesco barcodes.

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Carolyn43 says...
6:52pm Wed 16 Jan 13

Phixer wrote:
I've knowingly eaten horse meat; very nice and tender. What's all the fuss about eating horses?
There's no fuss about eating horses - it's that horse meat isn't listed as an ingredient and therefore several laws designed to protect consumers are being broken as well as everyone has the right to know what they are eating if they want to know.

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Flusters says...
11:16am Sat 19 Jan 13

The cruel practice of rounding up New Forest ponies, including pregnant mares and foals, then shipping them off to the continent in unbearably confined boxes, to be, after an excruciating journey, put to death in a possibly extremely inhumane way, must be stopped. Every time you drive through the New Forrest think of the fate of our poor ponies. The RSPCA is currently spending money, badly needed to look after the animals it already cares for, to go to court to stop the inhumane practices of sending live animals abroad for slaughter.
In my opinion Tesco and other supermarkets should be found large amounts which should pay legal costs for changing the law and stopping the inhuman practice of sending animals abroad for slaughter.
www.rspca.org.uk/get

involved/campaigns/f

arm/livetransport

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