Paul McCartney defends supermarkets in horsegate row
Pop legend Sir Paul McCartney defended retailers in the row over horsemeat contamination in beef burgers, claiming the blame lay with the suppliers.
“It won’t be the supermarkets who are responsible [for the horse meat contamination of beef burgers],” McCartney told BBC Radio 4’s the Food Programme on January 20. “They will have put in place every safeguard they can find.
“It will be a supplier – someone who said: ‘go on: whack in a bit of that [horse meat], mate. They’ll never know. “
McCartney added that he had “seen it coming” because he is already on the other side of the argument.
Meanwhile, the Food Safety Authority Ireland has asked its counterpart in the Netherlands to investigate the business practices of several companies in connection with the scandal.
National Farmers Union president, Peter Kendal warned that the horsemeat in beef burgers crisis had “severely undermined confidence in the UK food industry”.