Do you know what’s in your burger?

Horsemeat has been discovered in burgers sold by four of Britain’s biggest supermarkets.

Aldi, Iceland, Lidl and Tesco are all household names for many of us, but their food has come under scrutiny recently after traces of horsemeat were found in a number of beef burgers sold by the supermarkets.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) made the discovery after testing the burgers made in two meat processing plants in Ireland (Silvercrest Foods and Liffey Meats) and one processing plant in the UK (Dalepak Hambleton).

27 samples were taken from the four supermarkets with 10 of them showing horsemeat DNA – nine of which contained very low levels. The remaining sample from Tesco indicated that their Everyday Value Beef Burgers contained a shocking 29% horse DNA. On top of this, many of the burgers were found to contain pig DNA as well.

While these findings pose no health risk, they have raised serious concern over the quality control of Britain and Ireland’s meat. The discovery of pig DNA can be explained as the plants in question produce pork products as well as beef products, it is the presence of horse meat that is causing real concern.

Tesco have said in a statement that they have immediately withdrawn all products made from the suppliers and are working with authorities to ensure this type of contamination does not happen again.

“The safety and quality of our food is of the highest importance to Tesco. We will not tolerate any compromise in the quality of the food we sell. The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious.”

If you want to address your diet and the way you shop, it may be worth speaking to a nutritionist. For more information, please browse our Nutrition Topics.

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