Digesting the DNA results

摘要

This time it is the food industry's turn to go under the spotlight for contamination failures after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) revealed horse and pig DNA had been found in beefburgers on sale in some mainstream supermarkets. The findings were the result of a targeted study of meat products in retail outlets in Ireland, part of an ongoing FSAI policy checking food authenticity. Silvercrest Foods and Dalepak Hambleton, both part of ABP Food Group, supplied the contaminated beefburgers and a full withdrawal has been implemented. In all but one of the cases, the levels of horse and pig DNA were extremely low. In one case, however, the level of horse meat accounted for 29% of the meat content.