A MAJOR food factory has suspended all production after horse DNA was found in frozen burgers in new tests just two days ago.
The ABP Food Group, one of Europe’s biggest suppliers and processors, revealed it has stopped work at its Silvercrest Foods plant in Co Monaghan, Ireland, until further notice.
The firm said that, following new results from the Irish Department of Agriculture, it believes the source of the contaminated material is one supplier.
It said: “However, because equine DNA has been found in finished products tested this week, we have decided that the responsible course of action is to suspend all production at the Silvercrest plant in County Monaghan with immediate effect.”
Ten million burgers suspected of containing some levels of horse meat were cleared from several supermarkets freezers across Ireland and the UK this week and are expected to be destroyed.
According to environmental health experts, the burgers containing horse meat could have been made from “diseased or injured animals”.
Health concerns have been raised by the Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland (SOCOEHS) over the safety of beefburgers which have been found to contain horse meat.
The chief of the SOCOEHS said “there is no way of telling whether the meat is safe” because these burgers have bypassed official inspection.
John Sleith, chairman of the organisation, said: “We note that statements are being made that it is not a health issue, but our concern is that there is no information on how the horse meat came to be in the burgers and so there is no way of telling whether the meat is safe to eat it could be from diseased or injured animals, for example.
“If it hasn’t come through the official inspection system, then there is no confidence that it is completely harmless.”
Mr Sleith also said that this scandal was an example of “food fraud” which is becoming an increasing problem.
Supermarket giant Tesco has placed full-page advertisements in a number of national newspapers, apologising to their customers for selling beefburgers containing horse meat.