Irish burgers recalled after new horsemeat discovery

Rangeland Foods is withdrawing the burgers made in September last year

More than 9,000 burgers made for the UK market by a firm in the Republic of Ireland are being withdrawn after some were found to contain horsemeat.

Rangeland Foods in County Monaghan said that the burgers were made in September 2012 and used meat from Poland.

Some of the burgers, sold to the catering and wholesale sectors, contained between 5-30% horsemeat.

They had been distributed within Ireland as well as to five other European countries.

The company said they had contacted customers about the test results.

"The burger product was specifically produced for the UK market and was made to a specification for EU beef from EU approved suppliers," the company said.

"Rangeland Foods has since taken the decision to withdraw all of their hitherto untested produce made from meat of Polish origin from the food chain, and that process is under way."

It said that they had been supplied to two UK companies.

The firm had suspended production at the factory in Castleblayney after horsemeat was found on the site in mid-January.

It resumed burger production last week following an audit by the Republic's Department of Agriculture.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland said that it was issuing a food alert for Ireland about the burgers and would also notify the European Commission.

"These products were sold to the catering and wholesale sectors and have been distributed to Ireland, the UK, Spain, France, Germany and The Netherlands," the FSAI said.

"Rangeland Foods has confirmed to the FSAI that it has notified its suppliers that would have received these implicated products and a withdrawal is taking place.

"As is the protocol in food withdrawals, if these suppliers have subsequently traded these products onwards to other food businesses, they are compelled to notify them to ensure that a swift withdrawal is undertaken across the market."