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Major kebab manufacturer says his product is horsemeat free

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THE country's biggest supplier of kebabs has reassured customers that his products only contain meat from lamb and beef.

Peter Michaels, owner of Kismet Kebab, in Maldon Road, Latchingdon was speaking after the Food Standards Agency promised it would get to the bottom of the matter after meat from British horses was found in burgers and kebabs made in the UK.

Mr Michaels says he has collected documented paperwork that shows he can prove he it has come from suppliers in Australia and New Zealand.

He said: "We have got all the documents which proves the traceability of our meat. We have sent letters to all our customers explaining that what is on our labels is correct.

"If in doubt they can contact their local environmental officer who can take sample s of the meat.

"But rest assured our products are correctly labelled. It only contains what it says on the label."

The Food Standards Agency promised the investigation into the horsemeat scandal will be "relentless".

As part of its ongoing investigation into the mislabelling of meat products, the FSA and police today entered two meat premises, Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, Todmorden, West Yorkshire, which is believed to have supplied horse carcasses to Farmbox Meats Ltd, Llandre, Aberystwyth.

The Agency and the police are looking into the circumstances through which meat products, purporting to be beef for kebabs and burgers, were sold when they were in fact horse.

Supermarkets, aware to the concerns of customers are treating the issue with ultra-sensitivity.

Tesco has withdrawn withdrew a frozen Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese product from sale as a precaution because Findus products from the same factory were reportedly at risk of containing horsemeat.

Tim Smith, Group Technical Director, said: "Since then, we have carried out a number of tests on the product and those tests identified the presence of horse DNA. Of the positive results, most are at a trace level of less than 1% but three showed significant levels of horse DNA, exceeding 60 per cent.

We have carried out further tests to ensure that there is no danger to health through the presence of potentially harmful bute. The test for bute was clear.

"The frozen Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese should contain only Irish beef from our approved suppliers. The source of the horsemeat is still under investigation by the relevant authorities. The level of contamination suggests that Comigel was not following the appropriate production process for our Tesco product and we will not take food from their facility again.
 
"We are very sorry that we have let customers down. We set ourselves high standards for the food we sell and we have had two cases in recent weeks where we have not met those standards. Our DNA testing programme is underway and will give us and our customers assurance that the product they buy is what it should be."

A Spokesman for Morrisons, which has outlets in Maldon and Witham said: "So far we have not had anything that suggests horse meat contamination in our products.

"We are carrying out test and have been for over the course of the week on a number of different products.

"The FSA have asked retailers to submit their results by Friday.

"Preliminary results have come back negative so on that basis we are confident, but are we not complacent and we are not resting on our laurels and we will continue to test our products."


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