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Food Fraud: Horse DNA found in burgers

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Simon

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Posted 16 January 2013 - 01:05 PM

Source: http://www.food.gov..../2013/jan/horse

The Food Standards Agency is investigating urgently how a number of beef products on sale in the UK and Republic of Ireland came to contain some traces of horse and pig DNA.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland reported yesterday (Tuesday, 15 January) that an analysis they carried out into the authenticity, or labelling accuracy, of a number of burger products revealed that some contained horse and pig DNA.

In particular, 27 beefburger products were analysed, with 10 of the 27 products (37%) testing positive for horse DNA and 23 (85%) testing positive for pig DNA. In nine of the ten beefburger samples, horse DNA was found at very low levels. In one sample from Tesco, the level of horse DNA indicated that horse meat was present and accounted for approximately 29% of the total meat content of the burger.

All of the retailers involved so far have removed potentially affected products from their shelves.

The FSA has been in contact overnight with the retailers and producers named in the FSAI survey and has called a meeting this afternoon with a wider range of food industry representatives to discover the extent of the potential problem and to investigate how this contamination might have occurred.


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Setanta

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Posted 16 January 2013 - 04:11 PM

Interesting, if a little disconcerting. I wonder if any similar tests have been run in North America? I do know there is a push to have some slaughter houses converted to add horses.

S.


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qtryst

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Posted 16 January 2013 - 04:30 PM

I suspect we have more than a few instances of this kind of fraud in many parts Africa.



superfoods

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 05:08 AM

Is it true? I don't think so.



Simon

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 12:52 PM

Tesco issued a full page apology in many of today’s daily newspapers. Click on the image below to read it. Although this will not harm anyone physically, there will be a huge financial cost of scrapping products, marking down prices and the dent in the trust of the British consumer.

The last paragraph of the Tesco Apology reads:

“And we will work harder than ever with all our suppliers to make sure this never happens again.”


No doubt the ramifications of this statement will be felt by the British food industry for many years to come with traceability, origin, authenticity, fraud, security, defence and adulteration sharply in focus.

A boon for joke mongers (there are dozens flying about) consultants and trainers and more hard work for suppliers.

I wonder if Tesco PIU audits cover this area and whether the supplier was audited, Tesco PIU audits are supposed to be very stringent.

Regards,
Simon

Attached File  Tesco_Apology.jpg   53.01KB   43 downloads


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Mendeljev

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 01:16 PM

I think this can be true.....

We once discovered the same problem but with game meat.....DNA analysis showed the presence of chicken inside the pheasant meat !

We have seen an increase in DNA anlysis on behalve of our customers (especialy Germany is focusssing on this)

The big question will be: who initially did the fraude (meat suppliers / meat processors...) and if it was done on purpose..

Also DNA analysis is only recognised as a qualitative test (present or not present) , not quantitive as there is no agreement on the reliability

Also these products are containing a lot of minced meat (baader), so mixtures of different origins are visually not noticeable...

We recently started a production of halal products : in our policy i have included a DNA anlysis on pork before releasing these products into the market

The Halal auditor told me a story of a non pork factory that had been found positive on the presence of pork. After a long search they discovered that the problem was coming from red cases that are being used throughout the meat industry. So they received "cleaned" red containers that where also used in pork processing plants

Besides that, in Belgium one can buy horse meat at the butcher shop, i understand this is not the case in the UK nor Ireland

Kind regards,
Mendeljev


Quality is not an act, it is a habit.(Aristoteles 384 BC-322 BC)

Simao Monteiro

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Posted 17 January 2013 - 03:03 PM

Here in Portugal, we have a very special kind of horse called "Puro Lusitano".
In 2012, more than 2803 of this horses have been slaughtered, four times more than in 2011. The Portuguese Association of Lusitano Horse Growers confirms that many horses are going to the slaughterhouse. This Association ensures that shoot down a horse is a heartbreak, but with the crisis, choices must be made and horses who have no buyer are selled to human consumption. As a rule, Lusitano horse is very expensive, but when going to the slaughterhouse, the price drops dramatically. A horse under normal conditions is worth much more than the meat he is. To preserve the genes of their animals, many growers prefer the horse ends up in the butcher's rather than in the hands of those who want to ride or resell.

So.... I think this might be true!!!!





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