Coveney promises to expose any fraud in horse meat controversy
New controversy has emerged after 75 per cent horse DNA was found in a meat product at Rangeland Foods. File photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has vowed to expose any possible fraudulent activity involved in the controversy over horse meat in burgers.
Addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture this afternoon,Mr Coveney said the investigation was now trying to establish if there had been any fraudulent or criminal activity but he had to be careful not to prejudice the outcome of the investigation.
He also criticised "bad management practices" at Silvercrest Foods, the ABP-owned plant in Ballybay, Co Monaghan, which has been at the centre of the scandal.
Mr Coveney said the people involved in the actions that had led to the loss of major contracts had "let themselves down, let their company down and let the Irish food industry down and it should not have happened".
Mr Coveney told the committee he had invited Polish vets to Ireland if they considered it necessary to examine the product and accompanying documentation. "Somebody is selling rogue product and somebody knows about it and is responsible."
Food Safety Authority of Ireland chief executive Prof Alan Reilly said he believed the eventual impact of this controversy would be "positive for consumers and for the reputation of Ireland as a producer of safe and wholesome food".
Earlier today Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was committed to resolving the horse meat crisis after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland warned of fraudsters "drip-feeding" contaminated product into the food chain.
As the scandal spread to more processors, the Garda fraud squad has been called in to help agriculture authorities track down the source of the mislabelled meat.
“This is a matter of reputation, obviously we cannot afford to have that,” Mr Kenny said. "It is a matter that needs to be sorted out and it will be sorted out."
Rangeland Foods in Co Monaghan was one of the latest plants to cease production after a sample at the factory tested positive with a reading of 75 per cent equine DNA in raw ingredient.
It supplies burgers to one of Ireland’s most popular fast food chains, Supermac’s, but the restaurant’s chief executive Pat McDonagh insisted he is sure all the firm's burgers are 100 per cent Irish.
The highest level of horse DNA has been found in a quantity of frozen meat being stored in Northern Ireland. Freeza Meats in Newry had meat which was 80 per cent equine, which the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) said was potentially linked to the Silvercrest factory in the Republic of Ireland, one of the first processors to be named in the scandal. The meat has not entered the food chain and was not purchased by Freeza, a spokesman for the company said.
The same meat trader in Ireland has supplied meat to Freeza, Silvercrest and Rangeland, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said. The source has been blamed on a meat supplier in Poland.
