IF Tesco and all the others have proper traceability programmes in their supply chain, it should be possible to identify the source of the meat that was processed into burgers.
All the cow meat should be from EU registered abbatoirs which have Defra meat inspectors in attendance 99% of the time that killing takes place. Veterinary inspectors should also be present some of the time, to ensure all animals are fit for human consumption.
The presence of horse DNA is not proof of horse meat being used, but one sample indicated a very high content of horse DNA so it looks likely.
It could be fat, bone meal, meat extracts as well as meat.
Burgers destined for supermarkets are produced on an industrial scale.
As someone associated with farming and who can also remember the last burger disaster that bears my name ,I am very angry that someone thought it was a good idea to include horse meat or horse meat by- products into these burgers.
The FSA may be correct in saying there is no risk to health, but the damage that these companies have done to the food production industry will take a long time to repair.
There is no doubt that all the supermarkets are aiming to keep costs of production down and profits up.
In an ideal world ,everyone of these supermarkets would be prosecuted for selling burgers that are not conforming to their stated ingredients. But they won't be , and we will get the usual lessons have been learned, it won't happen again.
And poor people will carry on buying shit burgers from supermarkets because they don't know or can't afford any better.
