Birds Eye meals hit by horsemeat fear

By London Evening Standard/London

Food giant Birds Eye was dragged into the horsemeat scandal yesterday.

It pulled three ready meals from sale in Britain after horse DNA was found in one of its dishes sold abroad.

Packs of spaghetti bolognese, shepherd’s pie and lasagne were withdrawn as a precaution, pending tests.

The shock move by one of Britain’s most trusted family brands came as a supermarket chief warned that “faith in the food on our shelves has been severely damaged”.

And in Scotland all schools were ordered not to serve frozen beefburgers after one was found to contain traces of horse DNA.

Birds Eye has spent millions building up its family-friendly image in Britain — with its Captain Birdseye character and slogan “Only the best for the captain’s table” — to sell a range spanning fish fingers and ready meals.

But tests discovered 2% horse DNA in a chilli con carne dish marketed in Belgium. The dishes withdrawn are made by the same Belgian manufacturer, Frigilunch NV.

Birds Eye stressed in a statement that the measure is “precautionary” and there was no evidence of contamination in any products sold to UK consumers.

It said: “We want to reassure you from testing we have completed that all Birds Eye beefburgers, beef pies and beef platters do not contain horse DNA.

“Regrettably, we have found one product, chilli con carne, produced for us by Frigilunch NV and sold in Belgium, that has tested positive for horse DNA at 2%. While not a food safety issue, this is clearly unacceptable.”

It added: “As a precautionary measure in the UK and Ireland we will withdraw all other products produced by the same supplier, namely traditional spaghetti bolognese 340g, shepherd’s pie 400g and lasagne 400g.”

Justin King, the chief executive of the UK’s third biggest supermarket chain J Sainsbury, warned yesterday that the whole industry needed to react with “urgency and vigour” to repair trust in the food it sells.

“The entire industry is facing a new reality,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. “Trust has been severely damaged. The horse meat scandal has identified potential weaknesses in the food supply chain that must be addressed with urgency and vigour.”