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Subscribe to RSSLONDON -- Britain's food regulator said horse meat had been found in beef products at Taco Bell fast food outlets, the first time it has been discovered on sale in British restaurants since the scandal broke in January.
The Food Standards Agency said Friday that it had conducted 1,797 tests over the past seven days, over 99 percent of which had come back negative for horse meat levels at or above 1 percent.
However, four tests were positive, it said. These included Birds Eye ready meals and Brakes skewers, already withdrawn from sale.
It added that no tests to date on samples containing horse DNA had found the veterinary medicine phenylbutazone, or "bute."
Tex-Mex fast-food chain Taco Bell, owned by U.S. firm Yum Brands Inc., has three outlets in the U.K.
"Some batches of ground beef supplied to us from one supplier in Europe tested positive for horse meat," Taco Bell U.K. said in a statement.
"We immediately withdrew ground beef from sale in our restaurants, discontinued purchase of that meat, and contacted the Food Standards Agency with this information," it added.
The news is awkward timing for Yum, which on Monday said it was moving to tighten food safety and reverse a sharp drop in business at its KFC restaurants in China after a scare over contaminated chicken.
Related:
'Fraud on a massive scale': Horse meat scandal keeps growing
Hamburgers pulled from UK supermarket shelves over horse meat
Burger King axes UK supplier in wake of horse meat scandal
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Horse meat & contaminated chicken? = Yummy!
Can't wait until it is found at a McDonald's. Pull up to the drive thru and order a 1/4 horse and cheese.
Make a run for the Border.
Is this part of the Fourth Meal?
They were just Thinking Outside the Bun.
Taco, taco, taco, taco, taco, taco, Taco Bell
The cure for the common meal
Feed the Beast
Yo Quiero Taco Bell.
ZZZESTY !!!
Nothing Ordinary About It!!!
The most surprising thing is that taco bell's food tested positive for any kind of meat.
Somebody should check the US side too.....TB meat does not taste anything like real beef. I'm pretty sure it is mostly "filler".
Knowing Taco Bell, I'd be surprised if there WASN'T horse meat in it!
You know something is wrong when you ask about your order, you're told "It's rounding the far turn, running behind an order of Nachos!"
All joking aside........... I love Taco Bell. My one complaint is the items never resemble the commercials.
They should have a certain weight on each item so franchise owners can't cheat you on ingredients.
Sometimes it seems like you order a burrito and they only give you the tortilla.
Any word as to who is responsible yet ?
And who found the head when they woke that morning?
On just about any supplement or drug you give to a horse it is plainly stated: Do NOT use in animals intended for human consumption. Not that I would ever eat horse meat, that would be like asking me to cook up my best friend. I have found a local market in the middle of no where that sells beef from their farm. They have no horses! Anybody see on the news a story about a rising number of early 20's women stricken with breast cancer? I would think that this is attributed to all the additives in the meat the USDA so kindly approves for us.
HORSE MEAT has been marketed & consumed commerically in Europe , Canada as well as many other countries for years,,,Two U.S.A. Derby winners were slautered & sold for food in England ,a few years ago .
Only in the U.S.A. is this not allowed !
Horse meat would be an improvement for taco bell.
White Castle served horse meat during the great depression.
No Joke.
that is a surprise - I didn't know they had real meat in Taco bell
WOW... you mean there is actual MEAT in a Taco Bell taco? AMAZING
I quit eating fast food and meat from overseas a long time ago. Stuffs crap
Personally, I always wondered what happened to the Chihuahua ....
Taco Bell will soon introduce the first horse taco.
Caballo al carbon?
Drop the caballo?