Horsemeat found in burgers made for British supermarkets was imported from Poland

International: The diverse origins of British meat highlight the need for control over the food supply chain

Horsemeat found in beef burgers manufactured for British supermarkets was imported from Poland, it emerged last night.

Tests have revealed that ‘raw material’ supplied to an Irish processing plant, which made burgers for Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland, contained as much as 20 percent horse DNA, the Irish Government said.

Around 10million beef burgers have been withdrawn from sale by supermarkets, and other smaller retailers in the UK, since the scandal, which centred around the Silvercrest factory, in County Monaghan, broke earlier this month.

Customers and food standards experts were left reeling after tests by the Foods Safety Authority of Ireland revealed burgers supplied to Tesco – Britain’s biggest supermarket chain - contained 29.1 percent horse DNA.

Burger King also stopped using Silvercrest’s products, although there was no horsemeat found in burgers sold by the fast food chain.

Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said the latest tests were a ‘major breakthrough’ in their investigation to identify the source of the contaminated products.

He had initially suggested imported ingredients from Spain and the Netherlands were to blame, but yesterday revealed the ‘likely’ source was an unnamed factory in the eastern European country.

Mr Coveney said the raw material was made from ‘low value’ cuts of meat.

‘It’s fat cuts, trims, de-sinewed meats,’ Mr Coveney said. ‘There was equine DNA, which is horsemeat, in the product.

‘There is no evidence to suggest that anyone knowingly imported product that had horse DNA in it, but clearly that is what happened.’

The minister said the ABP Food Group, which owns the plant, had now agreed to source meat only from the UK and Ireland and to introduce regular DNA testing of meat at Silvercrest and its sister factory, Dalepak Hambleton, north Yorkshire.

However, the firm, which denied the contaminated meat had come from the company’s plant in Poznan, Poland, refused to say whether it was permitted to use the Polish ingredient in Tesco’s burgers.

据昨晚报道称，英国超市专供牛肉汉堡中发现的马肉进口自波兰。

爱尔兰政府称，经检测，提供给一家爱尔兰加工厂的“原材料”中含有多达20%的马肉DNA。这家加工厂为乐购超市、阿尔迪超市、里德尔超市和冰岛超市供应汉堡。

自从本月早些时候英国莫纳亨郡银冠厂曝出这一丑闻后，已有近1000万只汉堡从超市和该厂附近的小零售店中下架。

爱尔兰食品安全局的检测结果显示，供给英国最大连锁超市——乐购超市的汉堡中含有29.1%的马肉DNA，此事随即在消费者与食品标准专家中引发轰动。

快餐连锁店汉堡王也停止使用银冠厂提供的产品，虽然其销售的汉堡中未发现马肉。

爱尔兰农业、食品与海洋部部长西蒙•柯文尼称，近期进行的检测是他们调查掺假产品源头的“一次重大突破”。

他最初认为，从西班牙和荷兰进口的食材是罪魁祸首，不过昨天他又透露，这一东欧国家的一家不知名工厂才是“可能的”源头。

柯文尼称，原材料是由“廉价的”碎肉制成。

“全是经过了剪切、剔除了腱子肉的肥膘块，”柯文尼说，“产品中含有马肉DNA”。

“虽然还未找到证据证明有人明知这些产品中含有马肉DNA却还进口，但事实已然明了。”

部长表示，该工厂所有者ABP食品集团现已同意只采用英国和爱尔兰的肉源，并同意定期对银冠厂及位于北约克郡的分厂达莱帕克•汉布莱顿厂采用的肉进行DNA检测。

不过，该公司否认掺假马肉源自它在波兰波兹南的工厂，而且拒绝透露是否得到许可在供给乐购超市的汉堡中采用波兰原料。

Vocabulary:

reel: 眩晕；震颤

equine: 马的；马

source: 寻求（尤指供货）的来源