The popular supermarket frozen foods brand became the latest company to be embroiled in the horse meat food scandal that has engulfed the food industry since revelations of contamination emerged in January.
A test by Findus on 18 beef lasagne products found that 11 contained between 60 to 100 per cent horse meat. The results were revealed by the FSA.
“We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.” said a spokesman for Findus, promising customers that “fully compliant beef lasagne will be in stores again soon.”
The FSA’s chief executive Catherine Brown “In order to get to the bottom of this, we’re going to be requiring every company to test every product line.”
Thought there is no evidence that the horse meat was unsafe for consumption, the samples are being tested for traces of equine drug phenylbutazone, also known as ‘bute’.
Aldi and Tesco withdrew some of their frozen beef products this week, including various spaghetti bolognaise and lasagne products that originated from a French supplier.
The latest news follows the revelations in recent weeks that have involved Tesco, Burger King, Aldi and other burger retailers.