Horse Meat Found In Irish Beef Burgers

Beef-based filler product imported from continental Europe is being blamed after cheap beef burgers made in two Irish factories were found to contain horse meat.

The burgers were on sale throughout Ireland and the UK in supermarkets like Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl.

One burger tested from Tesco's Everyday Value brand was found to be 29% horse meat.

The tests were carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in mid-November but the results only came back last week.

The two factories concerned are Silvercrest, ABP Foods, which is owned by beef baron Larry Goodman, and Liffey Foods.

Further tests carried out on burgers at ABP found traces of horse in nine out of 13 burgers.

Production of the burgers at the Silvercrest plant has been temporarily suspended.

As well as Tesco, Silvercrest supplies burgers to fast food chain Burger King. In his first interview in almost 25 years, Mr Goodman questioned the validity of the DNA tests.

"We are talking about DNA testing and DNA will pick up molecules and something in the air," he said. "I would not be surprised if there was not cross contamination of various species if one were to do DNA testing."

When asked about the media coverage, Mr Goodman said he was "disgusted with some of the things that I see."

Mr Goodman said the company had never bought or traded in horse meat and he suspected the contamination came from a hamburger filler product sourced from a supplier on the Continent.

"We have been let down," he said.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, and teams from Bord Bia, the state body that promotes Irish food overseas, have been working around the clock to repair the reputational damage to the Irish meat industry.

Although the scandal only involves low grade burgers, Irish beef is a premium product worth nine billion euros in exports to the Irish economy.

Enda Kenny said Ireland has acquired a reputation internationally for the very highest standards and it is always a source of concern when an issue like this arises.

He said an investigation is ongoing to determine the source of the common additive to the products produced by the three plants (including one in the UK also owned by ABP) in question.