英問題漢堡所含馬肉實爲波蘭廉價碎肉大綱

Horsemeat found in beef burgers manufactured for British supermarkets was imported from Poland, it emerged last night.

Tests have revealed that ‘raw material’ supplied to an Irish processing plant, which made burgers for Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland, contained as much as 20 percent horse DNA, the Irish Government said.

Around 10million beef burgers have been withdrawn from sale by supermarkets, and other smaller retailers in the UK, since the scandal, which centred around the Silvercrest factory, in County Monaghan, broke earlier this month.

Customers and food standards experts were left reeling after tests by the Foods Safety Authority of Ireland revealed burgers supplied to Tesco – Britain’s biggest supermarket chain - contained 29.1 percent horse DNA.

Burger King also stopped using Silvercrest’s products, although there was no horsemeat found in burgers sold by the fast food chain.

Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said the latest tests were a ‘major breakthrough’ in their investigation to identify the source of the contaminated products.

He had initially suggested imported ingredients from Spain and the Netherlands were to blame, but yesterday revealed the ‘likely’ source was an unnamed factory in the eastern European country.

Mr Coveney said the raw material was made from ‘low value’ cuts of meat.

‘It’s fat cuts, trims, de-sinewed meats,’ Mr Coveney said. ‘There was equine DNA, which is horsemeat, in the product.

‘There is no evidence to suggest that anyone knowingly imported product that had horse DNA in it, but clearly that is what happened.’

The minister said the ABP Food Group, which owns the plant, had now agreed to source meat only from the UK and Ireland and to introduce regular DNA testing of meat at Silvercrest and its sister factory, Dalepak Hambleton, north Yorkshire.

However, the firm, which denied the contaminated meat had come from the company’s plant in Poznan, Poland, refused to say whether it was permitted to use the Polish ingredient in Tesco’s burgers.據昨晚報道稱，英國超市專供牛肉漢堡中發現的馬肉進口自波蘭。

愛爾蘭政府稱，經檢測，提供給一家愛爾蘭加工廠的“原材料”中含有多達20%的馬肉DNA。這家加工廠爲樂購超市、阿爾迪超市、裏德爾超市和冰島超市供應漢堡。

自從本月早些時候英國莫納亨郡銀冠廠曝出這一醜聞後，已有近1000萬隻漢堡從超市和該廠附近的小零售店中下架。

愛爾蘭食品安全局的檢測結果顯示，供給英國最大連鎖超市——樂購超市的漢堡中含有29.1%的馬肉DNA，此事隨即在消費者與食品標準專家中引發轟動。

快餐連鎖店漢堡王也停止使用銀冠廠提供的產品，雖然其銷售的漢堡中未發現馬肉。

愛爾蘭農業、食品與海洋部部長西蒙•柯文尼稱，近期進行的檢測是他們調查摻假產品源頭的“一次重大突破”。

他最初認爲，從西班牙和荷蘭進口的食材是罪魁禍首，不過昨天他又透露，這一東歐國家的一家不知名工廠纔是“可能的”源頭。

柯文尼稱，原材料是由“廉價的”碎肉製成。

“全是經過了剪切、剔除了腱子肉的肥膘塊，”柯文尼說，“產品中含有馬肉DNA”。

“雖然還未找到證據證明有人明知這些產品中含有馬肉DNA卻還進口，但事實已然明瞭。”

部長表示，該工廠所有者ABP食品集團現已同意只採用英國和愛爾蘭的肉源，並同意定期對銀冠廠及位於北約克郡的分廠達萊帕克•漢布萊頓廠採用的肉進行DNA檢測。

不過，該公司否認摻假馬肉源自它在波蘭波茲南的工廠，而且拒絕透露是否得到許可在供給樂購超市的漢堡中採用波蘭原料。