Horsemeat scandal: Grocers to hold talks to restore consumer confidence

Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, as well as the Institute of Grocery Distribution and the Food and Drink Federation, will meet with Paterson to discuss details on how to convince shoppers to return to products affected by meat contamination.

Results of independent tests for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) released on Friday revealed that 2,501 tests were conducted on beef products and 29 results were positive for undeclared horsemeat at or above 1%.

The 29 containing horsemeat were found in seven products already reported and withdrawn from sale by Aldi, The Co-operative, Tesco, Findus and Rangeland.

Independent laboratories are now testing further products for meat contamination and the results are expected to be revealed later this week.

Horsemeat has also now been found in pub meals and school dinners.

ICM research for Retail Week earlier this month showed that almost half of consumers intend to shun meat products from the grocers embroiled in the scandal.

Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker yesterday branded the horsemeat scandal a “storm in a teacup”.

He told Channel 4 News: “Supermarkets are on the high street, they’re very visible, and they’ve taken all the blame for this and that’s not right.

“I don’t believe that any horse flesh has actually ended up in a British supermarket – [it’s] traces, microscopic contamination quantities.”

He added: “The Tesco problem was a filler, it wasn’t meat at all, it was a filler that they put into a cheap burger. This is a storm in a teacup – it’s over-hyped.”

Waitrose managing director Mark Price has said consumers may pay the price for the scandal, with food prices likely to rise.

Former FSA manager John Young claims to have warned former farming minister Jim Paice that illegal horsemeat may have entered the food chain in 2011.