Horsemeat found in tinned beef, FSA says

The Food Hall Sliced Beef in Rich Gravy has been withdrawn from sale in Home Bargain and Quality Save stores after routine testing carried out by Lincolnshire County Council trading services officer.

Manufactured in Romania in January 2013, officials said there was between 1 per cent and 5 per cent horse DNA within the beef.

As soon as we were made aware that the Food Standards Agency had found traces of horsemeat DNA in the Food Hall Sliced Beef in Gravy, it was removed from sale immediately. Home Bargains spokeswoman

The revelations of horsemeat within UK food products came in January this year and caused a crisis in Europe with consumers demanding to know what they were eating.

Supermarket products and school dinners nationwide were removed from shelves after it was discovered that they contained traces of horsemeat.

The FSA said: “The affected batch has been withdrawn from sale. If you have this product stored you are advised to return it to where you bought it.

“The affected batch has a best before date of January 2016 and a batch code of 13.04.C.”

Removed ‘immediately’

A report released in July revealed failings by both the FSA and the retail sector had contributed to the horrsemeat scandal.

A spokeswoman for TJ Morris Ltd, which owns Home Bargains, said: “As soon as we were made aware that the Food Standards Agency had found traces of horsemeat DNA in the Food Hall Sliced Beef in Gravy, it was removed from sale immediately.

“The FSA’s findings relate to just one batch of the product, which was produced in January 2013 – before horsemeat was found in a number of UK products. We have since had other batches of the same product tested, which were found to contain no traces of horsemeat.

“We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that our quality control is of the highest standard and extremely thorough. We are already liaising with this supplier to ensure that an even more robust process is in place moving forward.”