- Supermarket giant says tests show budget product is heavily contaminated
- Tesco apologises and admits it has 'let customers down'
- The product comes from Comigel of France, which is implicated in scandal
- Labour MP says many of horses used in food could come from Ireland
- Environment Secretary Owen Paterson warns of pan-European legal action
The food fraud scandal escalated last night when Tesco admitted the ‘minced beef’ in its frozen bolognese is up to 100 per cent horsemeat.
The value range ready-meal was made by Comigel, a French firm also linked to contaminated products at Findus and Aldi.
Horses slaughtered in Romania are thought to have been used by Comigel to make meals distributed across Britain and Europe, raising fears the problems are more widespread than first thought.
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Contaminated: The Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese has been found top be up to 100% horsemeat
- Ministers warned schools and hospitals to check their meals;
- The Government was branded incompetent in heated exchanges in the Commons;
- Labour claimed up to 70,000 horses are unaccounted for in Northern Ireland and could have entered the European food chain;
- A Romanian abattoir that supplied some of the original horse meat angrily denied claims it had mis-sold the product as beef.
He said: ‘A week ago Tesco withdrew a frozen Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese product from sale.
‘We did this as a precaution because Findus products from the same factory were reportedly at risk of containing horsemeat.
[caption
Of the positive results, most are at a trace level of less than 1 per cent but three showed significant levels of horse DNA, exceeding 60 per cent.’
Asked what the true level was, the company said the horse meat ranged between 60 and 100 per cent.
There have been concerns that the horse meat used in burgers, lasagne and bolognese sold in the UK is contaminated with veterinary drugs, such as bute.
Bute is banned from the human food chain because it can cause aplastic anaemia, which is a type of leukaemia.
Mr Smith said Tesco’s test for bute was clear, adding that the company would not take food from Comigel’s facility again.
The revelations show Tesco has been stocking products containing horse meat from two different European sources.
The scandal emerged four weeks ago following the revelation of contamination of burgers made by manufacturers in Ireland.
The French authorities say the horse meat itself came from two Romanian abattoirs and arrived at the French company via brokers in Cyprus and Holland.
This explanation has been disputed by the Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, who angrily denied any suggestion that the food would have been sold as anything other than horse meat.
Domino effect: Six supermarket chains in France
withdrew ready-meals from Findus and Comigel following Findus's decision
to take its frozen beef lasagne, made by Comigel, off the British
shelves
Mr Paterson faced a grilling from Labour MP Mary Creagh over his handling of the crisis
The logo of Comigel, the French food company
that supplied frozen lasagne found to contain up to 100 per cent
horsemeat to British supermarkets, including supermarket leader Tesco
Under investigation: The Spanghero depot in
Castelnaudary, in south western France. The firm supplied meat for
French frozen food giant Comigel
Ministers and the Food Standards Agency took three weeks before ordering comprehensive testing of processed beef products sold in the high street and served up in schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions.
Mr Paterson suggested the horse contamination was the result of an international criminal conspiracy and that police in Europe and the UK are involved in the investigation.
Withdrawn: Tesco says it instructs suppliers to only use Irish beef to make The Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese
Conspicuous absence: Retailers began a mass clear out of beef products linked to the horsemeat scandal
She added: ‘It is very convenient to blame the Poles and the Romanians but so far neither country have found any problems with their beef abattoirs.’
She said the lack of information from the Government had been a ‘disgrace’ and warned that the public’s confidence in the food chain was ‘sinking like a stone’.
Familiar scenes: This is the latest in a series of recalls of beef products tainted with horse
Tesco withdrew the own-brand lasagne, as well as the Findus product, when fears over horsemeat contamination were first raised
Meaty origins: It
emerged last night that officials are investigating whether horsemeat
found in beef products in Britain and France came from a Romanian
abattoir
Factory: Findus' food processing facility in Longbenton, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne
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