掛牛頭賣馬肉千萬牛馬肉漢堡被召回

中國日報網 2013-01-18 08:58

More than a third of the products tested in Ireland contained horse DNA

Ten million beefburgers are being recalled in a British scandal over horse meat contamination, it emerged yesterday.

As revulsion over the issue grew, more supermarkets and fast food chain Burger King were drawn into the row.

Sainsbury's, Asda and the Co-op have decided to remove thousands of packs of frozen burgers as a precautionary measure.

The firms acted because the products were made by an Irish food giant which is known to have been supplying burgers contaminated with horse meat.

Separately, Burger King confirmed it gets burgers from the same company. However, it said there has been an 'absolute assurance' that these are not contaminated.

Food watchdogs in the UK and Ireland are racing to establish whether products made for other retailers, take-aways and restaurants are contaminated.

Last night the Government and the Food Standards Agency announced a UK wide survey into the authenticity of burgers and other processed meat products.

The revelations have been met with anger and disgust, while the companies involved face prosecutions for misleading shoppers.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Question Time, David Cameron, said: 'People in our country will have been very concerned to read this morning that when they thought they were buying beefburgers they were buying something with horse meat in it. This is a completely unacceptable state of affairs.'

He warned the stores involved, saying: 'Ultimately retailers have to be responsible for what it is they sell and where it comes from.'

The alert was first raised by Irish food watchdogs earlier this week after horse DNA was found in burgers sold through Tesco, Iceland, Aldi, Lidl and Dunnes in Ireland.

It subsequently emerged that burgers from the same batches were sold in the British outlets of both Tesco and Iceland. The beef content in one Everyday Value burger sold by Tesco was actually 29 percent horse meat.

The tests were carried out in November but the results were not released until they had been checked by experts in Germany. It is likely that many thousands of the burgers contaminated with horse meat have been eaten by families.

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)

昨日有報道稱，英國近日曝出的牛肉漢堡摻馬肉丑聞事件，導致上千萬牛肉漢堡被召回。

隨著公眾對此問題的反感情緒不斷升級，有越來越多的超市卷入爭端，漢堡王連鎖快餐店也牽涉其中。

英國大型連鎖超市Sainsbury’s、Asda 和Co-op已經決定采取防范措施，將數千包冷凍漢堡下架。

這三家公司之所以采取這一行動，是因為這些產品均來自于一家據稱供應摻雜馬肉的漢堡的愛爾蘭食品巨頭。

漢堡王也單獨做出回應，證實從同一家公司購入漢堡。不過，漢堡王稱該公司曾經向其保證過這批漢堡“絕對”未被摻假。

英國與愛爾蘭的食品監督機構正爭分奪秒地確認供給其他零售商、外賣店和飯店的產品是否受到污染。

昨晚，英國政府與英國食品標準局聯合宣布，將就漢堡與其他加工肉制品的真實性展開一項全國范圍的調查。

消息的播出引發了民眾的憤怒與不滿，而卷入事件中的企業將因誤導顧客而面臨指控。

大衛?卡梅倫在 “首相提問時間”接受質詢時稱：“民眾在從今早新聞中獲知他們購買的牛肉漢堡中摻雜了馬肉后，將會一直擔心受怕。這種事態是完全不可接受的。”