Horse meat found in beef burgers in England, Ireland

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

Horse silhouette

TRACES of horse meat have been found in burgers on sale in some of the UK and Ireland's busiest supermarkets, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) says.

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

Professor Alan Reilly, chief executive of the FSAI, said there was no health risk but also no reasonable explanation for horse meat to be found.

"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," he said.

According to the research by the FSAI, one sample of burger goods, Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, showed about 29 per cent horse meat relative to beef content.

"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," Prof Reilly said.

"In Ireland, 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.

"Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable," he said.

The FSAI said consumers can return implicated products to retailers.

Analysis also found traces of horse DNA in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain.

Ireland's Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney blamed a lone meat processor in County Monaghan, on the border with Northern Ireland, for the horsemeat find, which he called "totally unacceptable".