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) has said.
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% 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 for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horse meat in production processes,” Prof Reilly said.
The retailers have told food safety chiefs they are removing all implicated products from their shelves.
The FSAI said consumers can return implicated products to retailers.
The FSAI analysed 27 beef burger products with best before dates from last June to March 2014 with 10 of the 27 products 37% testing positive for horse DNA and 85% testing positive for pig DNA.
The FSAI analysis also found traces of horse DNA in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain.
Prof Reilly added: “We are working with the meat processing plants and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to find out how horse DNA could have found its way into these products.”
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%.