The discovery of horse meat in “ground beef” sold at some stores in the UK has sparked outrage, and there were worries that burgers purporting to be all beef but containing horse meat are being sold in Iceland as well.
The Telegraph reports that a new study conducted by The Food Standards Agency found that “in Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, horse meat accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the meat.” Apart from horse meat being considerably cheaper than beef, the group technical director of Tesco, Tim Smith, is quoted as saying, “The presence of illegal meat in our products is extremely serious. Our customers have the right to expect that food they buy is produced to the highest standards.”
However, traces of horse meat were also found in burgers sold by the food chain Iceland. Jóhannes Jónsson, who owns the store chain, has recently opened some branches of the store in Iceland.
Jóhannes told DV, “We don’t analyze everything that we sell. We take it as a given that the products contain what they are labeled as containing.”
A study conducted in Iceland in 2010 did show that Icelandic ground beef is 100% beef. The Icelandic food and biotech company Matís, who conducted the 2010 survey, told reporters that this remains the case in Iceland today.
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