The food retail industry is “absolutely determined” to restore confidence in its products following the horsemeat scandal and is expected to publish the remainder of its test results on beef products this week, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has said.
Mr Paterson spoke after meeting representatives from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons at Westminster, along with the Institute of Grocery Distribution and the Food and Drink Federation.
He said he hoped consumers took some reassurance that 99% of the products already tested were clear of horse DNA.
“The industry today committed to work absolutely as hard as they can to get out the remainder of the results by this Friday and they will be announced by the FSA (Food Standards Agency),” Mr Paterson said.
“Some may be completed the following week considering the pressure there is on laboratory capacity.”
The environment secretary also said he would meet industry figures regularly to ensure consumers were getting sound products.
Helen Dickinson, the director general of the British Retail Consortium, said laboratories were working “flat out” to get the test results completed.
She added: “Our members are confident that the vast majority of testing will be completed by Friday.”