Despite taking its business elsewhere after a meat processing plant in Ireland was found to have beef mixed with horse meat, it seems Burger King didn’t move fast enough to insure its 100% beef patties stayed that way. The fast food chain admits that some of the beef from its supplier contained trace bits of horse DNA, but none of that meat made it into its restaurants.

The horse meat scare across the pond is shaking up a lot of consumers there, but Burger King is stressing the very important fact to its customers that although tests at the plant it got beef from had “very small trace levels” of horse DNA, all burgers taken from restaurants had tested negative. The beef that tested positive never left the plant and was never in danger of reaching stores.

Burger King’s statement, via The Guardian:

“Our independent DNA test results on product taken from restaurants were negative for any equine DNA. However, four samples recently taken from the Silvercrest plant have shown the presence of very small trace levels of equine DNA. Within the last 36 hours, we have established that Silvercrest used a small percentage of beef imported from a non-approved supplier in Poland. They promised to deliver 100% British and Irish beef patties and have not done so. This is a clear violation of our specifications, and we have terminated our relationship with them.”

In addition, the vice-president for global quality at Burger King is stressing the fact that there’s no health risk for diners, saying Burger King was “deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100% beef burgers. Our supplier has failed us and in turn we have failed you.”

Burger King had moved fast in the wake of the scandal, switching suppliers last week as a “voluntary and precautionary measure.”

Moving forward, the company says it will look into additional measures like DNA testing to ensure that no equine DNA shows up in its beef.

Burger King reveals its burgers were contaminated in horsemeat scandal [The Guardian]

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