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How the horsemeat scandal unfolded – timeline | |
(8 days later) | |
16 January | 16 January |
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland says beefburgers with traces of equine DNA, including one product classed as 29% horse, are being supplied to supermarkets by Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and Dalepak Hambleton in Yorkshire, subsidiaries of the ABP Food Group. | The Food Safety Authority of Ireland says beefburgers with traces of equine DNA, including one product classed as 29% horse, are being supplied to supermarkets by Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and Dalepak Hambleton in Yorkshire, subsidiaries of the ABP Food Group. |
Ten million burgers are taken off the shelves, by retailers including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores. | |
A third company, Liffey meats, based in County Cavan, Ireland, is also found to be supplying products to supermarkets with traces of horse />DNA. | |
17 January | 17 January |
The ABP Food Group suspends work at its Silvercrest Foods plant in County />Monaghan, Ireland, until further notice. | |
Sainsbury's, Asda and the Co-op withdraw some frozen products as a precaution, but have not been found to be selling contaminated food. | |
23 January | 23 January |
Burger King, which is supplied burgers by ABP Food Group, switches to />another supplier as a precautionary measure. | |
25 January | 25 January |
The department of agriculture in Ireland reveals it has taken more />than 130 samples of burgers and ingredients in the past week from the />Silvercrest facility. | |
Meanwhile Waitrose removes a range of frozen burgers made by Dalepak but says its burgers have been tested and are 100% beef. | |
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) says tests at a Dalepak plant in North Yorkshire found no traces of meat contaminated with horse or pork />DNA. | |
Silvercrest used meat in its products that did not come from a list of />approved suppliers and was from outside the UK and Ireland, Tesco says, />after dropping the company. | |
30 January | 30 January |
Irish authorities believe "filler product" made from horsemeat and />beef found in contaminated burgers came from Poland, the FSA says. | |
4 February | 4 February |
Production at a second meat supplier, Rangeland Foods in County Monaghan, />is suspended after 75% equine DNA is found in raw ingredients, the department of agriculture confirms. | |
The Irish department of agriculture calls in police to aid its investigation, which includes possible fraud. | |
ABP Food Group is estimated to have lost €45m (£39m) in contracts. | |
5 February | 5 February |
Frozen meat at Freeza Meats company in Newry, Northern Ireland, is />found to contain 80% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency Northern />Ireland says. It is potentially linked to the Silvercrest factory in />the Republic of Ireland. | |
Asda withdraws products supplied by Freeza Meats. | |
6 February | 6 February |
Tesco and Aldi take down frozen spaghetti and lasagne meals produced />by French food supplier Comigel, following concerns about its Findus />beef lasagne. | |
7 February | 7 February |
The FSA reveals a second case of "gross contamination" after some />Findus UK beef lasagnes were found to contain up to 100% horsemeat. />The products were made by Comigel. | |
The agency says it believes "criminal activity" is to blame and orders food />companies to test their beef products. | |
Tesco and Aldi remove ranges of ready meals produced by Comigel />from their shelves. | |
8 February | |
David Cameron labels the scandal a "very shocking story" and says "it's completely unacceptable". | |
Meanwhile, Aldi confirms two of its ready meal ranges were found to contain up to 100% horsemeat. | |
11 February | |
The environment secretary, Owen Paterson, says legal action over the scandal will be mounted in Europe. | |
He describes the contamination of beef products as a case of fraud and conspiracy against the public. | |
Meanwhile, Tesco becomes the latest firm to drop a major supplier after discovering a range of spaghetti bolognese ready meals contained more than 60% horsemeat. | |
12 February | |
The FSA raids a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire and a meat plant in Wales under suspicion of passing off horsemeat as beef for kebabs and burgers. | |
The FSA and police officers enter the Peter Boddy slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, and Farmbox Meats in Llandre in Aberystwyth, west Wales. | |
Production is suspended pending the outcome of investigations into claims the companies supplied and used horse carcasses in meat products purporting to be beef. | |
Meanwhile, Waitrose announces it is pulling a range of beef meatballs after tests revealed they might contain pork. | |
13 February | |
Cameron promises that anyone involved in passing off horsemeat as beef will face the full force of the law. | |
EU agriculture ministers agree to random DNA testing of processed meat products after an emergency meeting in Brussels. | |
They also agree to test for "bute" – a powerful anti-inflammatory drug for horses – which could pose a health risk if passed on to humans. | |
14 February | |
Three men are arrested in Aberystwyth and Todmorden, West Yorkshire following FSA inspections. | |
At Farmbox Meats near the Welsh town, the owner Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, and a 42-year-old man are arrested and a 63-year-old man is arrested in West Yorkshire. | |
Police arrest the men after it emerges a significant amount of horse meat containing bute could have been entering the food chain for some time. | |
Authorities in Britain and France try to trace the carcasses of six horses contaminated with bute that were slaughtered in a UK abattoir and may have entered the human food chain across the Channel. | |
The drug, potentially harmful to human health, was detected in eight horses out of 206 tested by the FSA in the first week of this month. | |
Two were intercepted and destroyed before leaving the slaughterhouse but the other six were sent to France, where horse meat is commonly eaten. |