Greencore shares fell 9.5% in London today, following the withdrawal of its “Chosen By You,” 500g Beef Bolognese Sauce by the British supermarket & online grocery chain Asda, due to the presence of equine DNA.
Greencore Foods have admitted that it was the possible supplier of Bolognese Sauce which contained horse meat.
Asda state that the suspect sauce contained meat that was supplied to Greencore under contract by the ABP Food Group’s Nenagh plant here in Co Tipperary, an approved supplier. This now brings Larry Goodman’s ABP group once more under the spotlight, with Silvercrest Foods in Monaghan remaining closed, as investigations there continue.
Greencore state that it is waiting for test results to quantify how much equine DNA was present in the sauce. Three other Greencore products 600g Beef Broth Soup, 500g Meat Feast Pasta Sauce, & 400g Chilli Con Carne Soup, are also understood to have also been withdrawn by the same grocery chain, but only as a precautionary measure to protect its customers.
Greencore’s Chief Executive, Mr Patrick Coveney, brother of Agriculture Minister Mr Simon Coveney, said the company was waiting for the results of further quantitative tests & were complying fully with both suppliers and FSA testers, in their attempt to get to the bottom of this beef contamination & restore customer confidence.
Meanwhile authorities in Britain and France are attempting to trace the carcasses of six horses containing the drug Phenylbutazone, (also known as “bute,”) all of which were slaughtered at a UK abattoir and may have entered the human food chain in France, where horse meat is commonly consumed.
The Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has also stated that a cold stores in Naas, Co Kildare has informed his department this week that consignments of frozen beef trimmings imported from Poland, had tested, in part, positive for horse DNA. However the implicated company have confirmed that none of this consignment had, as yet, reached the consumer market place.
I went to my doctor with a bad stomach problem. He told me, “In future watch what you are eating”. I rushed home and watched the Grand National.
“Farm to Fork” has now become “Stable to Table,” in the interests of increased profit Michael.