Horsemeat scandal: Birds Eye recalls three beef ready meals

By Lauren Grice

Birds Eye has announced a recall of three of its beef ready meals after DNA testing revealed the presence of horsemeat in one of its products.

In an announcement today (February 22nd), the company revealed that a chili con carne product produced by Frigilunch NV and sold in Belgium was found to have contained two per cent horse DNA and would be immediately withdrawn.

As a precaution, it said it would be recalling all beef products from the same supplier in the UK and Ireland, which include its Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese (340g), Shepherd’s Pie (400g) and Beef Lasagne (400g).

“The withdrawn products will not be replaced on supermarket shelves until we have finished our investigations and have complete confidence in this supplier,” said Birds Eye.

However, the company reassured customers that the vast majority of its beef products had emerged clean from DNA testing.

“The quality of our food is of the utmost importance to us. We know that our consumers rely on us to be certain that they are eating only what is labelled on the packaging and that they can always rely on us to act responsibly,” it added.

Birds Eye went on to note that it had introduced an ongoing DNA testing programme, in addition to enhancing its normal quality assurance processes.

The discovery marks the latest development in the horsemeat scandal, which has already seen UK food retailers Findus, Tesco, Asda, Lidl and Iceland uncover traces of horsemeat contamination in their beef products.

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