Home Bargains hit by horse meat revelation

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said products were manufactured in Romania in January 2013 and supplied to the value chains, which are both owned by TJ Morris.

The food watchdog said the 320g packs were described on the label as ‘Food Hall Sliced Beef in Rich Gravy’ and contained between 1% and 5% horse DNA.

Lincolnshire County Council identified the presence of horse during routine testing. The products did not contain the veterinary drug Bute.

The FSA said: “The affected batch has been withdrawn from sale.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.”

The discovery comes ten months after horse meat was originally discovered in products sold by Tesco and Iceland. A plethora of retailers including Aldi, Asda and Lidl have since been found to have sold products which contained horse.

A spokeswoman for TJ Morris said: “We are disappointed with these findings. The factory, we and other retailers use for this product, has the highest level of UK food standards accreditation (British Retail Consortium Grade A).

“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.”

European vice president at supply chain specialist JDA, John Bailey said: “This again highlights a lack of visibility across an extended network of suppliers, distributors, manufacturers and producers. What is most worrying is the number of ‘blind spots’ that seem to currently exist.

“Shockingly it has again allowed the illegal substitution of horse meat in the food supply chain to occur and continue unchecked. Retailers must insist that everyone in the supply chain – not only their suppliers but also their suppliers’ suppliers – collaborate in order to understand where and how meat products are coming into the supply chain from farm to fork.”