Horse-meat burger supplier frozen out

MEAT in Tesco burgers, which was found to contain horse DNA did not come from a list of approved suppliers, the supermarket confirmed yesterday.

The meat also came from outside the UK or Ireland, which was contrary to company policy.

The supermarket has dropped its frozen burger supplier, Silvercrest, following what it termed a “breach of trust”, and has vowed to introduce a DNA testing system on meat products to “ensure the quality” of the food on its shelves.

A statement issued by the company said: “We now understand – with as much certainty as possible – what happened.

“The evidence tells us that our frozen burger supplier, Silvercrest, used meat in our products that did not come from the list of approved suppliers we gave them.”