Kebabs being tested for horsemeat in Gwent (From South Wales Argus)

Kebabs being tested for horsemeat in Gwent

10:10am Saturday 16th February 2013 in News By David Deans, Reporter

Kebabs being tested for horsemeat in Gwent

TESTS for horsemeat are now under way on fast-food including kebabs as officials scramble to deal with the fallout of the horsemeat scandal.

Public bodies, pubs and food retailers across the UK are conducting tests after equine DNA was found in a series of products advertised as beef.

Caerphilly is among the authorities making inquiries, and the authority said that samples of burgers and "kebab type products" have been taken from retailers.

The authority officers' are also conducting risk assessments at manufacturers and wholesalers within the borough.

Meanwhile Aneurin Bevan Health Board moved to reassure patients yesterday, saying tests conducted since 2006 on its supply chain have proved negative for horse meat.

Its contracts for meat stipulate that evidence is provided that the source of the product can be traced.

The board said its suppliers say none of them have traded with firms implicated in the current meat contamination crisis.

Torfaen council yesterday confirmed that trading standards officers will be conducting tests in shops, butchers and other establishments next week.

Whitbread, which owns Brewers Fayre, Premier Inn, Beefeater and Costa Coffee among other brands, apologised to customers after it withdrew beef burgers and a meat lasagne from its menus when they tested positive horse DNA.

JD Wetherspoon plc says it has commissioned its own DNA tests as a precaution and will withdraw products if it finds horsemeat.

"Tests have already been completed in the last two weeks on sausages, burgers, steaks, beef and abbot pie and chicken pie. All the tests were negative for equine DNA," a spokesman said.

Mitchells & Butlers, which owns Harvester, Toby Carvery and Vintage Inns, said its suppliers have confirmed to us their products are not contaminated.

Horse found in English school dinners

HORSEMEAT was found in school dinners in England for the first time since the scandal began, it was revealed yesterday.

A cottage pie testing positive for horse DNA was sent to 47 Lancashire schools.

Meanwhile the Foods Standards Agency confirmed that 29 out of 2,501 tests on beef products had turned positive for undeclared horsemeat at or above one per cent.

The positive results relate to seven different products already reported and withdrawn from sale.

Products linked to positive results were confirmed to be Aldi's special frozen beef lasagne and special frozen spaghetti bolognese, and the Co-op's frozen quarter pounder burgers.

Findus beef lasagne, Rangeland's catering burger products and Tesco value frozen burgers and value spaghetti bolognese were also picked up by the FSA's tests.