Burger King drops supplier linked to horsemeat
Jill Lawless, Associated Press 12:05p.m. EST January 24, 2013
Burger King said Jan. 24, 2013, that it has stopped buying beef from an Irish meat processor whose patties were found to contain traces of horse DNA. (Photo: LM Otero, AP)
Story Highlights
- Traces of horsemeat were found in some patties
- Silvercrest Foods recalled 10 million burgers in Britain and Ireland
- Officials say there is no risk to human health
LONDON (AP) — British and Irish burger fans could face a Whopper shortage.
Burger King says it has stopped buying beef from an Irish meat processor whose patties were found to contain traces of horsemeat.
The fast food chain said Thursday that it had dropped Silvercrest Foods as a supplier for its U.K. and Ireland restaurants as a "voluntary and precautionary measure."
Last week Silvercrest, owned by ABP Food Group, shut down its production line and recalled 10 million burgers from supermarkets in Britain and Ireland after horse DNA was found in some beef products.
Burger King said the decision to drop the supplier "may mean that some of our products are temporarily unavailable." It stressed that "this is not a food safety issue."
The presence of horsemeat in beef is a sensitive issue in Britain and Ireland, which do not have a tradition of eating horses. The British tabloid The Sun reported the Burger King story under the headline "Shergar King," a reference to a famous racehorse.
Officials say there is no risk to human health, but the episode has raised food security concerns.
Products from another Irish firm and one in Britain also were contaminated by horsemeat. Most had only small traces, but one burger of a brand sold by the British supermarket chain Tesco contained 29% horsemeat.
Irish food officials say an ingredient imported from an unspecified European country and used as filler in cheap burgers is the likely source of the horsemeat contamination.
Burger King says its patties are made from 100% beef.
Lawmaker Mary Creagh, environment spokeswoman for Britain's opposition Labour Party, said Thursday that several horses slaughtered in the country last year had tested positive for phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory drug given to horses that can cause cancer in humans.
"It is possible that those animals entered the human food chain," she said.
The Food Standards Agency confirmed that meat from five horses had tested positive for the drug, but said none had been approved for sale in Britain. It said the relevant food safety authorities were informed in cases where the meat was exported to other countries.
The agency said no horsemeat in the current scandal contained phenylbutazone.
Very little horsemeat is sold in Britain, but the country sends thousands of horses a year abroad to be killed for meat.
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