THE LATEST ROUND of tests for horsemeat in beef products have been carried out and the results are now public.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has published the second set of results of industry tests on beef products, beef ingredients and other ingredients for the presence of horse meat.
DNA results
It pledged to carry out the regular tests following the emergence of DNA results that showed the presence of horse meat in beef. The scandal spread throughout Europe, including Poland and the UK.
Today, the FSAI said that a total of 1,228 tests were carried out by industry, of which 1,225 samples were found to be negative and three samples representing two products were found to be positive for the presence of horse meat.
It said that all of these positive results have been published previously and the products in question have been withdrawn from the market. The testing was carried out on beef meat ingredients and final beef products which were were taken from a range of suppliers, caterers, processors, manufacturers and retailers.
Food businesses which submitted results: ABP Ireland; Convenience Foods; Cow & Gate; Dawn Farm Foods; Dunnes Stores; Green Isle Foods; HJ Heinz; Keystone Manufacturing Ireland; Liffey Meats; Musgraves; Rangeland and Tesco.
The two items with positive results were Tesco simple roast meatloaf (3.1 per cent and 5.2 per cent horsemeat) and Oak Farm cottage pie, which contained 1- 5 per cent horse meat.
Earlier this month, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said that the public has a right to expect better from the Irish food industry in the wake of the horsemeat scandal.
He described the firms who were implicated in the saga as having let themselves down “as well as risking reputational damage to the Irish food sector itself”.
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