Asda's budget corned beef contains 50% horse meat, tests show



Asda removed the £1.54 tins from stores across Britain two weeks ago

Leicestershire Council found ingredients of one batch was half horse

Asda says its 'taken a belt and braces approach' to testing for horse



Horsemeat: Leeds-based supermarket giant Asda removed the £1.54 products from stores across Britain two weeks ago on March 8

Asda has withdrawn tens of thousands of its own brand corned beef - after it was found to contain up to 50 per cent horsemeat, it emerged today.

The supermarket giant removed the £1.54 products from stores across Britain two weeks ago on March 8 - and tests this week showed quantities of horse DNA above trace levels.

Leicestershire County Council found the ingredients of one batch of the 340g tins were half horse, but Leeds-based Asda has insisted it only found levels of up to five per cent.

Asda, which has carried out more than 700 tests on products during the horsemeat scandal, has now had eight products that have been positive for at least traces of horse, reported The Sun .

A spokesman for Asda said the chain has ‘taken a belt and braces approach’ to testing for horse DNA and quickly removed any products from its shelves ‘whenever we’ve had any concerns’.

The Walmart-owned chain with 500-plus stores, whose Smart Price Corned Beef is manufactured by French supplier Toupnot, has also scraped its Chosen By You Corned Beef line, reported the Sun.

The spokesman added: ‘These corned beef products are safe to eat within sell by dates, but if you have them in your cupboards you can return them to us for a full refund.’

Europe's horsemeat scandal erupted in January, when testing in Ireland revealed that some beef products also contained equine DNA, and the problems then spread across the continent.

Supermarket: The Walmart-owned chain with 500-plus stores, whose Smart Price Corned Beef is manufactured by French supplier Toupnot, has also scraped its Chosen By You Corned Beef line (file picture)

The scandal ensnared numerous well-known brands, prompting product withdrawals, consumer concerns and government investigations into the region's complex food-processing chains.

'These corned beef products are safe to eat within sell by dates, but if you have them in your cupboards you can return them to us for a full refund' Asda spokesman

City of London Police fraud experts will lead the probe into the horsemeat scandal, co-ordinating the response to what ministers have claimed is an international criminal conspiracy.

In the Commons earlier this month, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson described the adulteration of food products with horsemeat as a ‘criminal conspiracy which covers 23 countries’.