Horse DNA has been found in cottage pies sent to 47 schools in Lancashire, it has emerged, proving for the first time that horse meat has found its way into British school dinners.
The council's own laboratory has been carrying out DNA tests on samples collected by its trading standards officers, and preliminary results show the presence of horse DNA in the school meals, which have been withdrawn.
Tom Walker, a spokesman for the council, said the samples would now be sent off to the Food Standards Agency for more thorough tests which will show what proportion of the meat is horse meat rather than beef.
In a statement the council said: "Lancashire County Council has withdrawn a beef product from 47 school kitchens after it provisionally tested positive for traces of horse DNA.
"The provisional results of the tests on a pre-prepared cottage pie from an external supplier were reported late yesterday evening, February 14, and have been passed on to the Food Standards Agency.
"The county council's catering service submitted a range of beef products from its suppliers to be analysed by Lancashire County Scientific Services, in accordance with Food Standards Agency guidelines."
Councillor Susie Charles, cabinet member for children and schools, said: "We share the concerns people have about what is clearly a major problem in food supplies across the UK and Europe.
"Because of those concerns we decided to seek extra assurance that our external suppliers were not providing any products containing horsemeat DNA, and one of the products has returned a positive result.
"Relatively few schools in Lancashire use this particular product but our priority is to provide absolute assurance that meals contain what the label says – having discovered this one doesn't, we have no hesitation in removing it from menus.
"This does not appear to be a food safety issue but I've no doubt parents will agree we need to take a very firm line with suppliers and it is a credit to our officers that we have been able to quickly identify the problem and take the product off the menus."
Lancashire Trading Standards is one of 28 services across the country taking part in the FSA's testing programme for horse DNA.
最新檢測結果顯示，含有馬肉的餡餅被供應給了英國蘭開夏郡的47所學校。這也是首次證實馬肉已流入英國學校食堂。
蘭開夏郡地方議會的實驗室已對貿易標準官員收集的肉類樣本進行DNA檢測。初步結果顯示，校餐的肉食中含有馬肉，這些問題食品已被回收。徵信社徵信
地方議會發言人湯姆-沃克說，這些樣本將被送到英國食品標準局進行更徹底的檢查，檢測結果將告訴大家樣本中有多大比例的“牛肉”是馬肉。
地方議會在聲明中說：“在初步檢測含有馬肉後，蘭開夏郡地方議會已回收了47所學校食堂中所謂的牛肉食品。”
“2月14日晚，對購買自外部供應商的製成餡餅進行初步檢測的報告就已經做出，並遞交給英國食品標準局。”
“按照英國食品標準局的要求，地方議會中負責餐飲服務的部門已經上交了來自供應商的多種牛肉食品樣本，供蘭開夏郡科學檢測機構進行分析。”
來自兒童與學校部門的議員蘇希-查爾斯說：“這顯然是英國和歐洲食品供應中的大問題，我們和大家對此都很擔心。”
“正是由於這些擔心，我們決定進一步確保我們的外部供應商沒有供應馬肉食品，但檢測的樣本出了問題。”
“蘭開夏郡選用這一問題肉製品的學校相對較少，但我們首先要考慮的是，必須絕對保證肉製品和標簽所標明的成分一致，在發現這一肉製品有問題後，我們立刻進行了回收。”
“這似乎不是食品安全問題，但我們對供應商必須採取強硬態度，我相信家長們會同意我們的做法。我們很快就發現了問題，回收了問題食品，這也是政府官員的榮譽。”
英國有28家機構參加了英國食品標準局檢測馬肉的項目。蘭開夏郡貿易標準局是其中之一。
The council's own laboratory has been carrying out DNA tests on samples collected by its trading standards officers, and preliminary results show the presence of horse DNA in the school meals, which have been withdrawn.
Tom Walker, a spokesman for the council, said the samples would now be sent off to the Food Standards Agency for more thorough tests which will show what proportion of the meat is horse meat rather than beef.
In a statement the council said: "Lancashire County Council has withdrawn a beef product from 47 school kitchens after it provisionally tested positive for traces of horse DNA.
"The provisional results of the tests on a pre-prepared cottage pie from an external supplier were reported late yesterday evening, February 14, and have been passed on to the Food Standards Agency.
"The county council's catering service submitted a range of beef products from its suppliers to be analysed by Lancashire County Scientific Services, in accordance with Food Standards Agency guidelines."
Councillor Susie Charles, cabinet member for children and schools, said: "We share the concerns people have about what is clearly a major problem in food supplies across the UK and Europe.
"Because of those concerns we decided to seek extra assurance that our external suppliers were not providing any products containing horsemeat DNA, and one of the products has returned a positive result.
"Relatively few schools in Lancashire use this particular product but our priority is to provide absolute assurance that meals contain what the label says – having discovered this one doesn't, we have no hesitation in removing it from menus.
"This does not appear to be a food safety issue but I've no doubt parents will agree we need to take a very firm line with suppliers and it is a credit to our officers that we have been able to quickly identify the problem and take the product off the menus."
Lancashire Trading Standards is one of 28 services across the country taking part in the FSA's testing programme for horse DNA.
最新檢測結果顯示，含有馬肉的餡餅被供應給了英國蘭開夏郡的47所學校。這也是首次證實馬肉已流入英國學校食堂。
蘭開夏郡地方議會的實驗室已對貿易標準官員收集的肉類樣本進行DNA檢測。初步結果顯示，校餐的肉食中含有馬肉，這些問題食品已被回收。徵信社徵信
地方議會發言人湯姆-沃克說，這些樣本將被送到英國食品標準局進行更徹底的檢查，檢測結果將告訴大家樣本中有多大比例的“牛肉”是馬肉。
地方議會在聲明中說：“在初步檢測含有馬肉後，蘭開夏郡地方議會已回收了47所學校食堂中所謂的牛肉食品。”
“2月14日晚，對購買自外部供應商的製成餡餅進行初步檢測的報告就已經做出，並遞交給英國食品標準局。”
“按照英國食品標準局的要求，地方議會中負責餐飲服務的部門已經上交了來自供應商的多種牛肉食品樣本，供蘭開夏郡科學檢測機構進行分析。”
來自兒童與學校部門的議員蘇希-查爾斯說：“這顯然是英國和歐洲食品供應中的大問題，我們和大家對此都很擔心。”
“正是由於這些擔心，我們決定進一步確保我們的外部供應商沒有供應馬肉食品，但檢測的樣本出了問題。”
“蘭開夏郡選用這一問題肉製品的學校相對較少，但我們首先要考慮的是，必須絕對保證肉製品和標簽所標明的成分一致，在發現這一肉製品有問題後，我們立刻進行了回收。”
“這似乎不是食品安全問題，但我們對供應商必須採取強硬態度，我相信家長們會同意我們的做法。我們很快就發現了問題，回收了問題食品，這也是政府官員的榮譽。”
英國有28家機構參加了英國食品標準局檢測馬肉的項目。蘭開夏郡貿易標準局是其中之一。
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