Now Tesco admits its bolognese is made of horsemeat: Supermarket giant reveals 'Everyday Value' dish contained up to 100% horseflesh



Supermarket giant says tests show budget product is heavily contaminated

Tesco apologises and admits it has 'let customers down'

The product comes from Comigel of France, which is implicated in scandal

Labour MP says many of horses used in food could come from Ireland

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson warns of pan-European legal action

The food fraud scandal escalated last night when Tesco admitted the ‘minced beef’ in its frozen bolognese is up to 100 per cent horsemeat.

The value range ready-meal was made by Comigel, a French firm also linked to contaminated products at Findus and Aldi.

Horses slaughtered in Romania are thought to have been used by Comigel to make meals distributed across Britain and Europe, raising fears the problems are more widespread than first thought.



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Contaminated: The Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese was found last week to contain up to 100% horse

The Tesco revelation came as:

Ministers warned schools and hospitals to check their meals;

The Government was branded incompetent in heated exchanges in the Commons;

Labour claimed up to 70,000 horses may have been slaughtered over a five-year period in Northern Ireland and The Republic and could have entered the European food chain;

A Romanian abattoir that supplied some of the original horse meat angrily denied claims it had mis-sold the product as beef.



Tim Smith, Tesco’s technical director, yesterday apologised to customers over the latest development.

He said: ‘A week ago Tesco withdrew a frozen Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese product from sale.



‘We did this as a precaution because Findus products from the same factory were reportedly at risk of containing horsemeat.



‘Since then, we have carried out a number of tests on the product and those tests identified the presence of horse DNA.

Owen Paterson, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, updated ministers about the investigation into horsemeat contamination

Of the positive results, most are at a trace level of less than 1 per cent but three showed significant levels of horse DNA, exceeding 60 per cent.’

Asked what the true level was, the company said the horse meat ranged between 60 and 100 per cent.

There have been concerns that the horse meat used in burgers, lasagne and bolognese sold in the UK is contaminated with veterinary drugs, such as bute.

Bute is banned from the human food chain because it can cause aplastic anaemia, which is a type of leukaemia.



Mr Smith said Tesco’s test for bute was clear, adding that the company would not take food from Comigel’s facility again.



The revelations show Tesco has been stocking products containing horse meat from two different European sources.



The scandal emerged four weeks ago following the revelation of contamination of burgers made by manufacturers in Ireland.



The French authorities say the horse meat itself came from two Romanian abattoirs and arrived at the French company via brokers in Cyprus and Holland.



This explanation has been disputed by the Romanian prime minister, Victor Ponta, who angrily denied any suggestion that the food would have been sold as anything other than horse meat.

Domino effect: Six supermarket chains in France withdrew ready-meals from Findus and Comigel following Findus's decision to take its frozen beef lasagne, made by Comigel, off the British shelves

Mr Paterson faced a grilling from Labour MP Mary Creagh over his handling of the crisis

The logo of Comigel, the French food company that supplied frozen lasagne found to contain up to 100 per cent horsemeat to British supermarkets, including supermarket leader Tesco

Under investigation: The Spanghero depot in Castelnaudary, in south western France. The firm supplied meat for French frozen food giant Comigel

The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Owen Paterson, faced accusations that the Government has mishandled the crisis during a statement to MPs yesterday.



Ministers and the Food Standards Agency took three weeks before ordering comprehensive testing of processed beef products sold in the high street and served up in schools, hospitals, prisons and other public institutions.

Mr Paterson suggested the horse contamination was the result of an international criminal conspiracy and that police in Europe and the UK are involved in the investigation.

Withdrawn: Tesco says it instructs suppliers to only use Irish beef to make The Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese

Conspicuous absence: Retailers began a mass clear out of beef products linked to the horsemeat scandal

His Labour shadow, Mary Creagh, accused him and fellow ministers of incompetence and reported claims that up to 70,000 horses in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been slaughtered over a five-year period and may have ended up on the dinner plates of unsuspecting families.

She added: ‘It is very convenient to blame the Poles and the Romanians but so far neither country have found any problems with their beef abattoirs.’

She said the lack of information from the Government had been a ‘disgrace’ and warned that the public’s confidence in the food chain was ‘sinking like a stone’.

Familiar scenes: This is the latest in a series of recalls of beef products tainted with horse

Tesco withdrew the own-brand lasagne, as well as the Findus product, when fears over horsemeat contamination were first raised



Meaty origins: It emerged last night that officials are investigating whether horsemeat found in beef products in Britain and France came from a Romanian abattoir Factory: Findus' food processing facility in Longbenton, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne