Tesco horsemeat probe into beef burger contamination
The penultimate story in our list of the top 10 stories so far in 2013 was the emergence of beef products contaminated with horsemeat.
Tesco and three other retailers announced they were investigating how beef burgers on sale in Britain and Ireland became contaminated with horsemeat, in January.
The contamination came to light after Irish food safety watchdog the Food Safety Authority of Ireland analysed beef burgers stocked in stores in the UK and Ireland. Of 27 burgers analysed, 10 contained traces of horse DNA and three contaminated pig DNA.
In one sample sold by Tesco, horsemeat accounted for 29% of the total meat content.
Tim Smith, Tesco’s group technical director, apologised for the “distress” the contamination may have caused. “There are only two ways it could have happened – illegality or gross negligence,” said Smith.
Irish agricultural minister Simon Coveney stressed the contamination posed no threat to human health.
Silvercrest Foods and Dalepak Foods told BBC News they had never bought or sold horsemeat. Both added that they had launched an investigation into two continental European third-party suppliers.
To find out what happened next in the horsemeat scandal click here.