ABP Food Group has said the beef meatballs it supplied to Waitrose which were this week recalled by the UK retailer amid fears they contained pork tested negative for traces of the ingredient.
Waitrose this morning (13 February) announced a recall of its British beef meatballs after the product was found to potentially contain traces of pork.
Waitrose said test results on the product had been “contradictory” but added it had taken the “precautionary action” of removing the product from sale and putting up customer information notices in all its branches.
However, in a statement today, ABP told just-food all its tests carried out on Waitrose products have come back negative.
The recall comes amid concerns over the composition of meat products in the UK and Europe after horse and pig DNA was found in frozen lines, including beef burgers and lasagnes.
ABP is at the centre of the saga. Burgers made at three of its plants in Ireland and the UK and supplied to retailers including Tesco, The Co-operative Group and Aldi were found to contain horse meat.
The Waitrose beef meat balls were made by ABP Freshlink in Glasgow, which has been lined up for closure by parent ABP.
“Freshlink has carried out over 450 DNA tests during the last two and a half years. All our test results have been confirmed as negative for non-declared species,” ABP said.
“Freshlink will share all results directly with the FSA as part of their investigations.”
