Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
RETAIL GIANT TESCO has said it will no longer take products from Silvercrest, the firm at the centre of the recent horse DNA scandal.
It is understood the contract is worth about €15 million to the Monaghan plant.
In a strongly-worded statement this morning, Tesco’s Group Technical Director Tim Smith said the decision was taken with regret but explained “the breach of trust is simply too great”.
He said that the company had been working for the past two weeks to examine how horse DNA had been discovered in three frozen beef burger lines.
“We made a commitment to customers to investigate thoroughly and share the findings with them,” continued Smith. “Since then, we have been working hard to understand what happened and how we can stop it ever happening again.
We now understand – with as much certainty as possible – what happened. The evidence tells us that our frozen burger supplier, Silvercrest, used meat in our products that did not come from the list of approved suppliers we gave them. Nor was the meat from the UK or Ireland, despite our instruction that only beef from the UK and Ireland should be used in our frozen beef burgers. Consequently we have decided not to take products from that supplier in future.
Tesco said that it will not be taking “anything for granted” after this incident, despite its “well-equipped, expert technical team and world-class checks”.
“It has shown that, in spite of our stringent tests, checks and controls there remained a small possibility that something could go wrong and it did. We want to stop it ever happening again, so we are taking action to reduce that possibility still further.”
A comprehensive system of DNA testing across meat products has now been established.
ABP Food Group, Silvercrest’s parent firm, confirmed at the weekend that the contamination originated from third-party supply from Poland.
Commitment to Ireland
In a secondary statement, Tesco Ireland’s CEO Tony Keohane said the retailer remains committed to the domestic food and drink industry, adding that there are plans to open discussions with other Irish beef processors in relation to the sourcing of frozen burgers in the near future.
“Our buying of Irish beef amounts to €177 million a year and will continue,” he said. “The change in our buying relates only to frozen burgers from the Silvercrest plant which is valued at €15 million a year.
“We continue to purchase fresh Irish beef worth more than €100 million a year from other ABP companies.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Tescos are gone a bit over the top since this happened, they don’t even sell horse radish anymore! :(
Don’t even bother with your coat, just go.
If was were in tescos shoes I would do the same,if a supplier let’s you down once it can happen again
Is this another case of a rich man cutting corners on health&safety so he has MORE money?
@ruari,yea it was a polish guy making a quick buck conning a innocent Irish company
Love the image, probably as far from a Tesco burger as you can get!
Lidl’s..recognise them a mile away.
Every time I see that image, I just want to turn that fifth burger.
Tesco fair play to them . Silvercrest cowboys
Here’s a question… Why did Tescos burgers have more horse DNA (29%) when most others had very low traces… Is it because Tescos burgers are mostly filler, with very low amounts of quality meat?
No the 29% had noting to do with tesco, the sample that had 29% was the highest sample of a small but of 1 burger the trace amounts have been found in loads of samples therefore it the manufacturing company that’s at fault, these burger were supplied also to dunnes Supervalu and many other stores
I don’t agree… Each buyer is able to spec what quality of product and what mix of ingredients they want in their product. I’m asking the question whether Tescos product specifications were so low that it contained more than 29% filler. Bearing in mind that the horse DNA was contained in the filler.
I ask the question out of curiosity… I would never buy meat in Tescos anyway and avoid the place like the plague.
I avoid purchasing meat in Tesco because the quality is simply not good enough, contrary to what some people here think. The mince is fatty & the steaks roasting joints etc. – have not been ‘hung’ sufficiently.
Even Aldi and Lidl are superior, (& cheaper)
I would NEVER buy ready-made burgers, I mean, let’s face it, who is too lazy to get some good quality mince from their local butcher, chop some onion, even crumble in an OXO cube & a hint of garlic, – make your own burgers….!!
I don’t think that laziness us the problem, rather the fact that ready made burgers are cheaper than the same amount of mince… Because of the fillers.
trace amounts v’s 29% … not one issue but two separate issues & I’m not sure we have heard the real reason for the 29%, maybe at this point its politically better that this issue fades away, the 29% issue, you know who you are!
Big questions still unanswered are:
- What was this ingredient/meat bought in Poland sold to Silvercrest as?
- Is it the sum total of “meat” in the burger?
Kind of makes a mockery of traceability.
Silvercrest are lucky to be keeping any of their contract with Tesco.
No doubt jobs will be lost with a loss of 15m to the company simply through greed.
They just don’t taste the same now…
Take some mince and grate an onion down and mix both together for delicious home made burgers the kids will love.
Organic minced beef is economical to buy to make your own beef burgers. Available in Lidl for under €4. add some finely chopped organic onion, breadcrumbs, an organic egg (for binding) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix ingredients together and shape into 6 good size ‘healthy’ burgers. (You would pay €5 each for these at a festival). With organic you are guaranteed you get the quality you expect and you are helping nature to heal at the same time with your purchase :)
Quite right , I did an artisan food course recently and we had small and medium sized food business owners who came in to talk about starting up etc.
the majority said that due to tescos stringent criteria that they would not even bother to approach tescos as they could not meet all their requirements and still make money…
Looks like they were not alone in that sentiment.
What really strikes me as brass-neckish though is that they come out with a statement blaming a polish supplier even though only Irish and uk produce was supposed to be used in manufacture. Seems to me when that statement came out they already knew they would be shelved
By tesco
Tesco had an agreement with Silvercrest that only approved Irish or English sub-suppliers would be used.
Silvercrest broke that agreement and have done enormous damage to the integrity of the Irish food industry.
The question is why Tesco weren’t checking that their contractual terms were being met – & why they failed to find horse meat in the burgers before the government did. As ponythegringo says, it’s virtually impossible to follow all of Tesco’s requirements and still make money.
Tesco knows this. But it gets to put whatever it likes in its contracts, and when things go pear-shaped, it can say “Oh dearie me, it’s all our supplier’s fault! We have the highest standards, and we’re shocked – shocked! – that these naughty people have fallen short. It’s a gross breach of trust! (Though not so gross that we won’t continue to get our other cheap meat from them.)”
I’m not excusing Silvercrest, to be clear.
Sure they let the reigns go on this issue a while back! No point closing the barn door after the horse bolted and ……. Ill go now !
God those horse jokes are really bad now,
Pass the buck me thinks? Stinks of P.R
Tesco had strict regulations, no produce could come from a third party supplier. Slivercrest seemed to ignore that regulation and sourced produce from a Polish company. Silvercrest have no-one to blame but themselves, and Tesco is not passing the buck.
I agree with you cpm but unfortunately it will be the people on the factory floor who will feel the consequence of this decision, they didn’t make the decision to source the obviously cheaper meat in Poland.
AIBP are repeat offenders. The story has an extract from the Beef Tribunal report which shows that “84% of beef delivered to Iraq in 1987 and 1988 did not comply with the written requirements of these contracts”.
We never appear to learn in this country.
http://thestory.ie/2012/04/02/the-beef-tribunal-report-1994/
Tesco were correct to do this. Silvercrest broke the terms of the contract they entered with Tesco.
However as usual, workers pay the cost for the wrongs of Management.
News stories over the weekend reported that ABP were re-assigning the Silvercrest Management.
What does this mean? Getting P45′s or promotions? Because losing a €15 million a year contract one would imagine the P45 would be the solution, but one never knows with ABP, does one?
Plus the30m burger king contract
Great, Tesco are now going to source their $hite for their “burgers” from somewhere else. I actually get physically sick thinking of what is being used in Tesco’s 10 cent “value” burgers.
In what way do you think this is passing the buck??
It would be very difficult for any Tesco supplier to make a profit as Tesco dictate costs, payments, and produce to be used etc, etc, etc. They then will only pay a pittance for the product. That is why they can post massive profits year in year out. Suppliers are almost forced to cheat.
Im still surprised that people think they get quality or near-quality meat in a supermarket’s own branded value items.
Most people dont know this little gem.
Due to high volumes, they (the supermarkets) are allowed to have up to a 15% diviation in what they state are in their ingredient quanities.
So if they sell you scraps, dressed as meat/burgers with a 60% meat content (the rest being fillers, chemicals, water etc), its most likely they have gone that extra 15%, making the shite you buy actually having at most, 45% mixture of low quality offcuts.
‘Food’ for thought.
it didnt take tesco long to put there huff down on this subject.it just go’s to show they dont horse about when it comes to there profit margin!!!
Horse meat (which is totally harmless) or not.
Why would anyone buy cheap, fatty processed frozen burgers?
Because their cheap very cheap 43000 plus on dole.
Tesco has no problem taking product from other Larry Goodman company does he have other companies that have frozen beef processing.
neither does aldi lidl dunnes or iceland. tesco seem to be only store that have seen to be taking any steps to allay any fears the public have.
Lee if Tesco had lost confidence in one part of abp slivercrest surely they wouldn’t have confidence in other abp companies so just a publicly stunt. Are great arnt we .hopefully Tesco will have another Irish supplier soon and that part not just (filler)
cya later horse!
The problem isn’t Silvercrest but Tesco.
Larry Goodman screws up the Irish beef industry again.
I see from the Image that improvements are already in place, its now easier to spot the horse burger, its the red one!
AIBP are repeat offenders. The Story has an extract from the Beef Tribunal Report on their site at the moment “It is clear that 84% of the beef supplied by AIBP to Iraq during the years 1987 and 1988 did not meet the written requirements in these contracts”. Don’t we ever learn in this country?
http://thestory.ie/2012/04/02/the-beef-tribunal-report-1994/
It’s not a case of do “we” ever learn, it’s does Larry Goodman ever learn?
I am sorry for the employees of ABP, inevitably there will be job losses.
If they are looking for someone to blame, they need look no further than Larry Goodman himself. As others have said here, Larry has form in this area.
It is unfortunate that Tesco are taking these steps from the point of view of the company workforce at Silvercrest. Perhaps Tesco will consider taking some measures against the meat suppliers who have no problem pumping water into meat and then packaging it for sale in the their supermarkets along with many others.There are a few fiddles,and that is exactly what they are, Going on in the food industry and the supermarkets are not that enthusiastic about following up the claims.The pumping water one has been proved and forgotten for some strange reason.Anyone who has ever fried a rasher is aware of that scam.Fair enough Silvercrest were caught and the following investigation located the source.I personally believe they were just unlucky to be screwed by a supplier.Ban all products from the supplier of the contaminated meat instead of punishing innocent Irish workers for something they had no knowledge of.Irish jobs are a very precious commodity these days and should not be used for what is a very cynical public relations exercise.
How hard was it to get an image of basic frozen burgers, Tesco do stock fresh burgers as well you know.
Drop the dead donkey…..
Cowboy Larry should get off his high horse this time and give some straight answers!
Every little helps…or maybe not with dna testing
I’m surprised it’s taken this long for ponies to turn up in burgers. The whole horse passport scheme is effectively an acknowledgement that horses end up in the food chain.
have your say