Nestlé withdraws products in Italy, Spain and France and says results of tests on UK products will be provided 'in due course'
Nestlé, the world's biggest food company, which has withdrawn beef and pasta products in Italy, Spain and France because of traces of horsemeat, has not yet supplied test results for its UK products in the first round of industry checks ordered by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Despite stating that it had implemented "enhanced testing of our products and the raw materials we use across Europe" from the moment concerns were raised in the UK last month, it did not report any results to the FSA for publication last Friday.
The FSA said: "Nestlé UK is involved in the industry testing, as requested by the FSA. The results will be provided to the FSA in due course and incorporated into our published results as and when they are available."
Nestlé UK said no supplies from a sub-contractor implicated in products withdrawn in Europe were involved in UK products. "We are obtaining compliance statements from all our beef suppliers and conducting independent authenticity tests of all our beef products in line with FSA requirements and we are expecting to be able to submit results in this week's reporting cycle. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will comply with any actions required by the authorities."
The company's head office in Switzerland said the horsemeat levels found in two products sold in France and Spain were "above the 1% threshold the UK's Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence". It had therefore "informed the authorities accordingly". The Buitoni products affected were tested between 11 and 17 February.
Last week at the release of the company's 2012 results in Switzerland the chief executive, Paul Bulcke, told journalists: "Everything under our labels is not affected."
On Monday in a statement hidden away under media statements on its website, the company announced it was suspending deliveries of all products using beef supplied by a German firm, HJ Schypke, a subcontractor of one of its suppliers, JBS Toledo NV, a company based in Belgium, which proudly boasts of the traceability of its raw materials.
Nestlé said that when reports first emerged in the UK about the "fraudulent mislabelling" of beef, it enhanced testing of products and the raw materials used across Europe.
"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products made from beef supplied by HJ Schypke. There is no food safety issue, but the mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," it said.
"Therefore we are voluntarily removing two chilled pasta products, Buitoni beef ravioli and beef tortellini, from sale in Italy and Spain immediately, and we will replace them with product confirmed by DNA testing to be made from 100% beef. Lasagnes à la bolognaise gourmandes, a frozen meat product for catering businesses by Nestlé Professional produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale and replaced with product made from 100% beef."
The company added: "We are also enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe. Assuring the quality and safety of our products has always been a top priority for Nestlé. We want to apologise to consumers and reassure them that the actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceability." Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.
Nestlé, the world's biggest food company, which has withdrawn beef and pasta products in Italy, Spain and France because of traces of horsemeat, has not yet supplied test results for its UK products in the first round of industry checks ordered by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Despite stating that it had implemented "enhanced testing of our products and the raw materials we use across Europe" from the moment concerns were raised in the UK last month, it did not report any results to the FSA for publication last Friday.
The FSA said: "Nestlé UK is involved in the industry testing, as requested by the FSA. The results will be provided to the FSA in due course and incorporated into our published results as and when they are available."
Nestlé UK said no supplies from a sub-contractor implicated in products withdrawn in Europe were involved in UK products. "We are obtaining compliance statements from all our beef suppliers and conducting independent authenticity tests of all our beef products in line with FSA requirements and we are expecting to be able to submit results in this week's reporting cycle. We are monitoring the situation very closely and will comply with any actions required by the authorities."
The company's head office in Switzerland said the horsemeat levels found in two products sold in France and Spain were "above the 1% threshold the UK's Food Safety Agency uses to indicate likely adulteration or gross negligence". It had therefore "informed the authorities accordingly". The Buitoni products affected were tested between 11 and 17 February.
Last week at the release of the company's 2012 results in Switzerland the chief executive, Paul Bulcke, told journalists: "Everything under our labels is not affected."
On Monday in a statement hidden away under media statements on its website, the company announced it was suspending deliveries of all products using beef supplied by a German firm, HJ Schypke, a subcontractor of one of its suppliers, JBS Toledo NV, a company based in Belgium, which proudly boasts of the traceability of its raw materials.
Nestlé said that when reports first emerged in the UK about the "fraudulent mislabelling" of beef, it enhanced testing of products and the raw materials used across Europe.
"Our tests have found traces of horse DNA in two products made from beef supplied by HJ Schypke. There is no food safety issue, but the mislabelling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," it said.
"Therefore we are voluntarily removing two chilled pasta products, Buitoni beef ravioli and beef tortellini, from sale in Italy and Spain immediately, and we will replace them with product confirmed by DNA testing to be made from 100% beef. Lasagnes à la bolognaise gourmandes, a frozen meat product for catering businesses by Nestlé Professional produced in France, will also be withdrawn from sale and replaced with product made from 100% beef."
The company added: "We are also enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe. Assuring the quality and safety of our products has always been a top priority for Nestlé. We want to apologise to consumers and reassure them that the actions being taken to deal with this issue will result in higher standards and enhanced traceability." Reported by guardian.co.uk 5 hours ago.