Burger King has admitted this evening that it has been selling burgers and Whoppers containing horsemeat despite denying it for two weeks.
The Daily Mail reports that the fast food chain had earlier given a series of “absolute assurances” that its products were not involved.
But new tests have now revealed that these promises were incorrect.
The revelations also raise questions as to whether the food company even knows what goes into its products.
The contaminated burgers were made by the Irish-based processing company, Silvercrest.
The same company also made tainted burgers for Tesco.
Burger King is now facing allegations that it had a cover-up in operation so give them enough time to find an alternative supplier after the horsemeat scandal.
Tonight Burger King abandoned its earlier denials, saying: “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 100per cent British & Irish beef patties and have not done so. This is a clear violation of our specifications, and we have terminated our relationship with them.”
The horsemeat contamination scandal was first triggered two weeks ago, when the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed it had found horse meat in burgers sold in Ireland and the UK.
Yesterday, Burger King vice president, Diego Beamonte, said: “We are deeply troubled by the findings of our investigation and apologise to our guests, who trust us to source only the highest quality 100per cent beef burgers.”
