Horsemeat found in supermarket beefburgers

Tesco admitted that horse DNA had been found in burgers sold in its supermarkets, and also by high-street rival Iceland.

Tim Smith, Tesco’s group technical director, said the company “immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question” after the Republic of Ireland’s food safety authority (FSAI) informed them of the discovery on Tuesday.

Iceland also revealed they were taking two products off shelf as a ‘precautionary measure’. The burgers were also on sale in Irish branches of Lidl and Aldi.

The FSAI said the contaminated meat, which it stressed posed no health risk, could have come from the supplier’s processing plants in Ireland or Yorkshire.

Out of 27 products tested, 10 were found to contain horse DNA and horsemeat accounted for nearly 30 percent of the meat content in one sample from Tesco.

In a statement, Smith said: “The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco.

“We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell,” he added. “The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.”