Burger King sorry over horse DNA discovery

BURGER King has apologised after horse DNA was found at a plant supplying its burgers.

The fast food giant said it was now cutting ties with the Silvercrest factory, which has already lost contracts with supermarkets Tesco, Aldi and the Co-operative Group.

Burger King said the failure to deliver 100% British and Irish beef patties was a violation of contracts.

The apology in UK newspaper ads includes a statement from Diego Beamonte, Burger King Corporation’s vice president for global quality, who said: “While the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has stated this is not a food safety issue, we are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100% beef burgers.

“Our supplier has failed us and in turn we have failed you. We are committed to ensuring that this does not happen again.”

Irish authorities said that its investigations have traced filler product used in the burger processing facility to a supplier in Poland. It contained a mixture of beef and horse off-cuts.

Burger King said its own tests for equine DNA in restaurant burgers have come back negative.

Experts from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) told the Commons Environment Committee that they cannot be sure if the contaminated burgers were being sold for more than a year.

At least 10 million burgers were put into storage following the scandal.