Traces of horse meat found in another Irish plant
Another Irish meat processing plant has tested positive for traces of horse meat, Ireland’s Department of Agriculture confirms.
Tests of a raw ingredient at Rangeland Foods in County Monaghan revealed findings of 75 per cent horsemeat, the department confirmed. The company has indicated that none of the product has entered the food chain.
Production has been suspended at Rangeland, a frozen burger supplier established in 1892 with a turnover of £15m and about 80 staff. The company says on its website that it has a “growing customer base in UK, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Cyprus and Gibraltar.”
It follows ABP Foods losing £38m in contracts, including to Tesco where burgers were found to contain traces of horesmeat. The Silvercrest processing plant in Monaghan, part of the ABP Group, was found to have supplied the products contaminated with horse.
The contamination has been traced back to Polish suppliers.
Rangeland called in the authorities last Thursday amid suspicions that Polish-sourced meat may have contained traces of horse. An Irish-based trader had imported the meat, the department said.
Read more: Horsemeat burgers - the key questions.
“The investigation is focusing on the full supply chain including the meat trader concerned and others who facilitated the purchase of the product and its transfer to users in Ireland,” the department said.
The Rangeland results were released on the eve of a briefing Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is to give politicians in Dublin at a parliamentary committee on the wider horse meat controversy.
The latest concern over the traceability of food follows the discovery of pork in halal pasties and pies sent to the prison service.