UK: McAdam Foods names UK meat trader as horse meat scandal rumbles on

horse

By Carina Perkins – meatinfo.co.uk

The Irish company at the centre of the horse meat scandal has named the UK meat trader that allegedly supplied meat stored at Freeza Meats, which was found to contain 80% horse.

The Irish company at the centre of the horse meat scandal has named the UK meat trader that allegedly supplied meat stored at Freeza Meats, which was found to contain 80% horse.

The Irish company at the centre of the horse meat scandal has named the UK meat trader that allegedly supplied meat stored at Freeza Meats, which was found to contain 80% horse.

McAdam Foods said in a statement that it sourced the consignment of Polish frozen meat from Flexi Foods, a company based in Hull, England. McAdam said that “responsibility for the provenance of the shipment lay with the UK supplier”, but added that by naming the Flexi Foods, it did not intend “to make any imputation concerning the company”.

McAdam said it stored the meat at Freeza because the pallets were too high for its own facility and the owner of the company, Martin McAdam, was on holiday and couldn’t arrange alternative storage facilities.

It also confirmed that it offered to sell the consignment to Freeza once it became apparent that the load was outsized, but that Freeza had declined.

The statement said that labelling problems with the consignment were identified in September, following a “random” inspection by an officer from Newry & Mourne District Council. The officer placed the meat under quarantine and McAdam was therefore unable to move it from Freeza.

It added that it “relinquished ownership” of the meat under investigation and insisted that the UK supplier redeemed the goods, adding that Flexi Foods was the responsible party in terms of answering questions from the Council officer.