Horsemeat probe: Tesco sacked Irish food supplier Silvercrest

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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British supermarket giant Tesco said to have sacked its Irish food supplier Silvercrest, a unit of ABP Food Group, on Wednesday after horse meat traces were found on conductingDNAtest of the meat used in beefburgers in Britain and Ireland.

The retailing firm has concluded its investigation that the meat used by Silvercrest in Tesco products came from non- approved suppliers’ list despite the instructions of only using beef from the approved U.K. and Ireland suppliers should be used in Tesco frozen beef burgers.

Around a couple of weeks ago, the Food Watchdog, Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) had carried out DNA test on a randomly picked frozen beef stocks from different supermarket retailers Tesco and Iceland in both Britain and Ireland, and in Irish branches of Lidl, Aldi and Dunnes Stores. The DNA reports have uncovered that up to 29 percent of the meat content of some beefburgers was in fact horse, while they also found traces of pig DNA.

After the revelation of scandal, Tesco immediately issued an apology and assured to investigate the matter in detail. Following the investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture in Ireland, it has been found that the source of the horse meat was a Polish supplier – the supplier not present in the approved suppliers list within the agreement.

Tesco’s group technical director, Tim Smith has told to drop the Irish supplier due to the “breach of trust”.

Mr. Smith has also ensured to “introduce a comprehensive system of DNA testing across our meat products” in addition to the current strong measures.

“These checks will set a new standard. It will be a significant investment for Tesco, borne by Tesco. We want to leave customers in no doubt that we will do whatever it takes to ensure the quality of their food and that the food they buy is exactly what the label says it is.”

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