Burger King admits to using horsemeat in burgers

[bℓσωηG]

Burger King admits it has been selling beef burgers and Whoppers containing horsemeat

• Fast food chain has faced allegations of orchestrating a cover-up
• Fast food chain had earlier assured its products were not involved
• Processing company Silvercrest has been using non-approved ingredients
• Aldi today admitted burgers sold through UK stores probably contaminated

Burger King has tonight admitted that it has been selling burgers and Whoppers containing horsemeat despite two weeks of denials.

The fast food chain, which has more than 500 UK outlets, had earlier given a series of ‘absolute assurances’ that its products were not involved.

However, new tests have revealed these guarantees were incorrect in a revelation that threatens to destroy the trust of customers.

Burger King has faced allegations of orchestrating a cover-up of its links to the horsemeat scandal in order to give it time to find an alternative supplier. It has admitted selling burgers containing horsemeat

It also raises serious questions about whether the food company, which sells around one million burgers a week in the UK, has any good idea about what goes into its products.

The contaminated burgers were made by the Irish-based processing company, Silvercrest, which is part the ABP Foods Group.

The same company also made tainted burgers for Tesco, Asda and the Co-op, among others.

Burger King has faced allegations of orchestrating a cover-up of its links to the horsemeat scandal in order to give it time to find an alternative supplier.

It is currently shipping in tens of thousands of burgers from suppliers in Germany and Italy in order to meet demand at its UK outlets.

It is known that the management at Silvercrest has been using a series of non-approved ingredients in their burgers for a range of household name brands.

These included meat off-cuts, including horse, that were imported in large frozen blocks from Poland.

The contamination has been going on since at least last May and potentially for up to one year, according to evidence presented to MPs earlier this week.

Tonight Burger King abandoned its earlier denials, saying: ‘Four samples recently taken from the Silvercrest plant have shown the presence of very small trace levels of equine DNA.

Burger King is currently shipping in tens of thousands of burgers from suppliers in Germany and Italy in order to meet demand at its UK outlets

‘Within the last 36 hours, we have established that Silvercrest used a small percentage of beef imported from a non-approved supplier in Poland.

‘They promised to deliver 100per cent British & Irish beef patties and have not done so. This is a clear violation of our specifications, and we have terminated our relationship with them.

‘Through our investigation, we have confirmed that this non-approved Polish supplier is the same company identified by the Irish Department of Agriculture as the source of Silvercrest’s contamination issue.’

'We are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100per cent beef burgers.'
- Burger King vice president

The contamination scandal was first triggered two weeks ago, with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed it had found horse meat in burgers sold in Ireland and the UK.

When the news first emerged, Burger King said it had been given an ‘absolute assurance’ by its supplier that its products were not involved.

Yesterday, Burger King vice president, Diego Beamonte, said: ‘We are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100per cent beef burgers.

‘Our supplier has failed us and in turn we have failed you. We are committed to ensuring that this does not happen again.’

He added: ‘We will dedicate ourselves to determining what lessons can be learned and what additional measures, including DNA testing and enhanced traceability controls, can be taken to ensure that we continue to provide you with the quality products you expect from us.’

Jeanette Longfield, of the campaigning food and health group, Sustain, has condemned Burger King’s handling of the problem.

Burgers were pulled off the shelves at Tesco after the supermarket discovered that there were traces of horse meat in their products

‘Burger King’s approach has been very shabby,’ she said.

‘It really is not the open, honest and transparent way that we expect a major food company to treats its customers.’

Earlier today, Aldi admitted for the first time that burgers sold through its UK stores were also probably contaminated with traces of horse meat.

Its burgers were made by a British supplier, Dalepak, which is based in Richmond, north Yorkshire.

The same company manufactures burgers for Iceland, which has also admitted to finding horse meat in products sold to families in this country.

Tesco Everyday Value beefburgers that were removed from shelves at Tesco after they were found to contain 29 per cent horse meat

Dalepak also makes burgers for Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, which both insist that their burgers are clear of contamination.

The processing company is a subsidiary of the Irish company, ABP Food Group, which also owns a second burger manufacturing business, which is Silvercrest, in southern Ireland.

Aldi said a sample of its frozen Oakhurst Beefburgers showed up positive for 0.1per cent horse DNA, while its Oakhurst Beef Quarter Pounders were 0.1per cent equine and 0.1per cent pork.

The company withdrew all of its frozen burgers from UK stores when the scandal first erupted two weeks ago as a precaution.

Silvercrest used a small percentage of beef imported from a non-approved supplier in Poland

A spokesman said: ‘Customers are our absolute priority. This is why we immediately withdrew these products until such a time that we could verify that there was no risk to our customers.

‘We are deeply angry and feel let down by our supplier and we are pursuing more tests until we are certain that we understand how the production line was contaminated.

‘Aldi requires rigorous verification and quality control procedures and we cannot allow our quality commitment to our customers to be compromised.

‘We will continue to maintain active scrutiny across our supply lines, and we assure our customers their health and safety is our number one priority.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271440/Burger-King-admits-selling-beef-burgers-Whoppers-containing-horse-meat.html#ixzz2Jg16lkBh

Edited February 1, 2013 by bℓσωηG

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Yep, that's why I stick well clear of meat and fast good lol! Didn't KFC admit to using rabbit at one point?

[Change]

[PositiveHAL]

flase advertising aside,

what's wrong with horse meat?

[satyr]

flase advertising aside,

what's wrong with horse meat?

...delicacy in Europe....

[planthelper]

flase advertising aside,

what's wrong with horse meat?

...delicacy in Europe....

i agree, and i love horse meat, i will only eat at burger king now!

it's called leberkas, in central europa, yummy, we all love and eat, "leberkas".

[qualia]

i think a little horse meat is the least of your worries if you're eating that,

hmm, does thins mean hungry jacks has horse meat too?

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

i wonder how much rodent, insects, workers fingers, etc. they have in them compared to traces of horse meat?

[Psylo]

x

Edited March 23, 2013 by Psylo

[PositiveHAL]

thats what makes it taste good!!

[ghosty]

taste good?? WTF. that shit tastes like shit.. god knows i wont eat it ever. rotton garbage. eat real food people.

[Distracted]

Will this stop me from eating fast food?

Nay.

[bℓσωηG]

These wouldn't have been healthy horses , too old to race too lame to be ridden ...

[Optimystic]

I don't see how horses are more special than cows...

perhaps the good many should consult the old wise toad

what about the cows man, moo

what this grills down to is burger king admits to having made a bad deal with a third supplier who not only sold them horse meat but some of it was contaminated.. . they're admitting to a small percentage of equine dna...but they are admitting to .1% and im trying to figure on how this happens??? Do they sprinkle a little unicorn dust on every patty or something? smh

I would be willing to bet that no one who ate bk the day before actually barfed up their burger after reading this today
Do these mindless drones think not to ask how much high fructose corn syrup is in their buns???

Ya Basta!

[planthelper]

taste good?? WTF. that shit tastes like shit.. god knows i wont eat it ever. rotton garbage. eat real food people.

what do you mean? have you ever eaten processed horse meat? or you mean fast food in general?

i might expand the topic a little, what do you and others think, of roo meat?

i personal love roo, and it's the best meat in the world you can eat (no cholestrol!!) and has a game meat flavor and texture.

but some aussie people, say it's shit and they don't even feed it to there dogs.

but i say, those people are MEAT NAZIS, and have to get real.

we should all eat more roo meat, because this would mean, we destroy less of the enviroment.

poor cow in the paddock, fenced in, loaded into truck, has to queue up, for it's own death in the slaughter house.....meat full of penecillin, tranqulizers, and the fear of death.

compare to roo, roo happy to hop wher ever it want's, can eat wild herbs, dies fast without any fear... meat full of goodness, of the wild herbs and plants the roo did consume.

and aswell imagen, eating a burger made with some horse meat, which came from black caviar, a real expensive burger that would be, hehehehe.

Edited February 3, 2013 by planthelper

[bℓσωηG]

poor cow in the paddock, fenced in, loaded into truck, has to queue up, for it's own death in the slaughter house.....meat full of penecillin, tranqulizers, and the fear of death.

...Yes and growth hormones and worming medications aswell.

I love roo meat , also emu meat is awesome.

Wouldn't it be lovely if instead of bulldozing forests to grow only grass to feed these non native animals bred into slavery, that we could a return to nature and sustainable hunting practices of kangaroos etc ,perhaps with a catch your own with a spear or throwing club only policy. No fences, no pollution aaah dream on...

Athough im now living in New zealand and the meat of choice before cows and sheep here included other humans, once the large flightless moa were wiped out

Edited February 3, 2013 by bℓσωηG

[qualia]

bulldozing forests to grow only grass

thanks to ted bailleu vic no longer needs pastures to raise cattle

[santiago]

eat real food people.

ah but thats just your opinion on what constitutes real, if eaten in moderation its just as worthwhile as any 'real' food in terms of sustaining life. in regards to the horse meat there is a place on beaufort st inglewood perth that sells horse meat. it was getting negative rep from news channels and bleeding hearts a few years back so i decided to try for myself. it was basically as good as cow steak but less fat and a slightly off taste and i mean slightly. i dont eat eat as it costs too much but if it were cheaper...hell yeah.

[planthelper]

that we could a return to nature and sustainable hunting practices of kangaroos etc ,perhaps with a catch your own with a spear or throwing club only policy. No fences, no pollution aaah dream on...

Athough im now living in New zealand and the meat of choice before cows and sheep here included other humans, once the large flightless moa were wiped out

and you, know what?

i'm a firm believer, that hunting, is super healthy exercise, and a very normal and needed action for humans.

for example, for me the feeling i get when i'm hunting, is so strong, that i would not even feel withdrawls.

i bet you, if all those young and some old people, who always are in trouble for, fighting, stealing and robbing, would be hunters, they would have no urge to do illegal or bad things.

the human brain is still hard wired for hunting, if you don't hunt, you do silly things instead, just to satisfy your brain.

Edited February 4, 2013 by planthelper

[-YT-]

Westerners have grown too accustomed to beef and its taste to the point where anything else just doesnt taste right. I agree with PH about Roo's would be good to see a wider market for a home grown product, no doubt there is someone tapping this market in a ethical and sustainable way. Never tried horse meat although Ph has me tempted

There was an interesting Doco on SBS couple weeks back Food Inc. One of the segments was about large scale industrial/corporate farming in the States how economically & environmentally unsustainable it is etc, Even though it is somewhat different here its worth a watch to get an idea of how the industry currently operates

Edited February 4, 2013 by -YT-

[Psylo]

x

Edited March 23, 2013 by Psylo

[qualia]

would koala taste nice? or would the eucalyptus diet give it a funny taste?

why don't they sell koala meat at coles? they're a pest in some areas.

dunnart on a stick

[incognito]

i think your wrong ph, ive tried roo cooked in so many ways and its still rough as guts to me!!

koala is like menthol-meat. u dont need to brush your teeth after a nice slow-cooked koala fillet.

[Psylo]

x

Edited March 23, 2013 by Psylo

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

i think your wrong ph, ive tried roo cooked in so many ways and its still rough as guts to me!!

Have you tried anything thats a home kill that isnt rough as guts?