Horse meat scare: Tesco to double amount of meat sourced from N Ireland
15 Mar 2013
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Supermarket chain Tesco said it was doubling the amount of fresh beef, pork and chicken sourced from farmers in Northern Ireland.
The announcement came during chief executive, Philip Clarke's visit to Ireland to launch a new Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University in Belfast where he said the horse meat crisis had "shaken consumer's confidence in all of us involved in the food supply chain."
Clarke added, customers, whatever price they paid and whichever products they could afford, had the right to expect that the product in the pack was what it said on the pack. He added, when they discovered they could not be sure that was the case, their confidence in industry was hit hard.
Earlier this week, the retailer removed a product made in Northern Ireland from its shelves after it was found to contain horsemeat. The supply came from Eurostock in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Tests showed the presence of between 2 per cent and 5 per cent horsemeat in the product manufactured between October 2012 and January 2013.
This was the fourth product the major retailer had to withdraw from over 500 products checked as part of its DNA testing programme.
The retailer is the largest customer for food producers in Ireland with the £1 billion worth of foodstuff it buys each year.
Clarke said customers now wanted to know where their meat came from.
"I think when all the inquiries are completed, it is going to be very clear that there are elements in the supply chain who are seeking to adulterate products of all suppliers, all retailers, and all manufacturers," he said.
"The work that everyone is doing now is to make sure that can't happen again, by implementing the most comprehensive DNA testing regime that's been seen in the world."
Welcoming Tesco's decision to increase the amount of locally sourced meat, Ireland's agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill said, in light of falling farm incomes, high feed costs and the fallout from the recent horse meat controversy, the news from Tesco that it was to greatly increase the amount of fresh meat it sourced locally would be welcomed by farmers across the north.
She said, she would urge the other major supermarket retailers to follow the lead set by Tesco and increase the amount that they sourced locally.
The announcement came during chief executive, Philip Clarke's visit to Ireland to launch a new Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University in Belfast where he said the horse meat crisis had "shaken consumer's confidence in all of us involved in the food supply chain."
Clarke added, customers, whatever price they paid and whichever products they could afford, had the right to expect that the product in the pack was what it said on the pack. He added, when they discovered they could not be sure that was the case, their confidence in industry was hit hard.
Earlier this week, the retailer removed a product made in Northern Ireland from its shelves after it was found to contain horsemeat. The supply came from Eurostock in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Tests showed the presence of between 2 per cent and 5 per cent horsemeat in the product manufactured between October 2012 and January 2013.
This was the fourth product the major retailer had to withdraw from over 500 products checked as part of its DNA testing programme.
The retailer is the largest customer for food producers in Ireland with the £1 billion worth of foodstuff it buys each year.
Clarke said customers now wanted to know where their meat came from.
"I think when all the inquiries are completed, it is going to be very clear that there are elements in the supply chain who are seeking to adulterate products of all suppliers, all retailers, and all manufacturers," he said.
"The work that everyone is doing now is to make sure that can't happen again, by implementing the most comprehensive DNA testing regime that's been seen in the world."
Welcoming Tesco's decision to increase the amount of locally sourced meat, Ireland's agriculture minister Michelle O'Neill said, in light of falling farm incomes, high feed costs and the fallout from the recent horse meat controversy, the news from Tesco that it was to greatly increase the amount of fresh meat it sourced locally would be welcomed by farmers across the north.
She said, she would urge the other major supermarket retailers to follow the lead set by Tesco and increase the amount that they sourced locally.
