Thursday, January 31, 2013

Burger King Will Start DNA Testing for Horse Meat

Just to be clear: Burger King (BKW) says there is no horse meat in its burgers. And just to make sure, Burger King tells Bloomberg Businessweek, it plans to test its beef patties for foreign DNA, including horse, pork, and lamb. Details for DNA testing have not been worked out, and no timeline has been set for implementing the new procedures, says Diego Beamonte, Burger King’s vice president of global quality. Burger King will test specifically for equine DNA following revelations that food processor Silvercrest Foods sold beef products containing horse meat to other retailers, including Tesco (TESO). Both companies have severed ties with Silvercrest, and Tesco has also said it will do DNA testing on all of its meat products. Burger King said in a statement today that while the beef it sent to a lab in Germany earlier this month tested negative for any equine DNA, it decided to drop Silvercrest after learning this week that a small percentage of beef the vendor had sold to the chain came from a non-approved supplier in Poland, rather than the 100 percent British and Irish beef patties it had undertaken to provide. While samples taken from the Silvercrest plant contained equine DNA, Burger King says this product was never sold to its restaurants...more

The "100 percent British and Irish beef patties" are for Burger King restaurants in the U.K, Ireland and Denmark.

Burger King's official statement says while only "trace amounts" were found, they have "transitioned all of our restaurants in the UK, Ireland and Denmark to other BURGER KING(R) approved suppliers from Germany and Italy as a precaution."

I had no ideal that Poland, Germany and Italy produce "100 percent British and Irish beef patties".

Just wait until they find out what's in those "French" fries.

And now for those Burger King restaurants in China...

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