Asda has found traces of horse meat in a beef product which it withdrew in January after conducting an internal testing programme.

The grocer said its Chosen By You Lean Beef Mince product was found to surpass the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) 1% horse meat threshold.

Asda said it had completed all the tests that had been asked of it by the FSA and is now testing further products.

Asda has tested 641 products to date and said more than 99% of its products are clear.

The grocer said: “From the start, we have moved swiftly to remove products from sale as a precaution when we’ve had any concerns. This further testing has shown that one of the products removed seven weeks ago, on 17th January, did contain horse DNA above the FSA’s trace threshold of 1%.”

It added: “We have also withdrawn a further two frozen pizzas this week – both have tested negative for horse DNA, but we decided to withdraw them in line with our approach.”

The FSA said the first results of its own testing regime, conducted by local authorities, published today show 212 of 224 products tested had come back negative. Three products were positive for horse DNA while a further nine products could potentially contain horse or meat but need further analysis.

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