Horse Meat in Lasagna: Contaminated Produce Calls for Greater Oversight
In the most recent incident involving the British horse meat scandal, a prominent food company revealed that some products were found to include up to "100 percent" horse meat, sparking outrage over the mislabeled products.
The food company Findus revealed that it tested several of its frozen beef lasagna products, which are produced by French supplier Comigel, and found that nearly half that were tested contained a large percentage of horse meat.
"Findus withdrew the beef lasagna products after its French supplier, Comigel, raised concerns about the type of meat used in the lasagna," the agency said in a statement. "We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk."
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This is the most recent incident in the horse meat scandal that started about two weeks ago after beef burgers in Britain and Ireland were tested and found to contain horse meat.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) stated the frozen burgers were on sale in supermarkets in both countries, but the mystery meat is not just popping up in supermarkets. Fast food chains have also had to deal with their own allegations.
"We are demanding that food businesses conduct authenticity tests on all beef products, such as beef burgers, meatballs and lasagna, and provide the results to the FSAI," Catherine Brown, chief executive of the agency, read in a statement.
Fast food giant Burger King admitted to having horse meat in some of its burgers, including its trademark Whopper burgers, in chains throughout the United Kingdom. The horse meat burgers were also produced from an outside supplier.
The admission came soon after the company denied that there was any horse meat in it food products. However, the company insisted it already corrected the supply issue and has assured its customers its burgers are horse meat free.
"The contaminated burgers were made by the Irish-based processing company, Silvercrest, which is part the ABP Foods Group," according to a statement published by Burger King.
