The Horsemeat Scandal was first discovered by The Food Safety Authority of Ireland on the 16th of January 2013, when it revealed the results of a targeted study that has found undeclared horse DNA in frozen beef burgers on sale in Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl. Frozen meat at Freeze Meats Company in Newry, Northern Ireland, was found to contain 80% horsemeat. (Press Assosciation , 2013). The Tesco beef burgers, tested as 29% horse, were supplied by ABP Silvercrest in County Monaghan. The other factories implicated at low or trace levels are Dalepak in Yorkshire, and Liffey Meats in County Cavan. (Lawrence, 2013). Findus UK beef lasagnas were found to contain up to 100% horsemeat. The products were made by Comigel. The agency says it believes…show more content… (Bhandal, 2013) The longer the chain, the higher the risk of integrity break-down. Tesco, Burger King, and Aldi all had to apologize to their consumers that they had been a victim of fraud somewhere along their supply chain. (Bhandal, 2013). In the modern food supply chain the end consumer is quite distant from the source, and the more hands through which products pass, the more risky the production system becomes. This is where the opportunity is given to the sellers to take advantage of their information asymmetry; for example, in the horse meat scandal, tainted meat found in Britain was sourced from Comigel in France, who contracted its subsidiary, Tavola, in Luxembourg, to manufacture the product, who ordered meat from Spanghero, a supplier based in the south of France, who contracted a trader in Cyprus, who in turn subcontracted a trader in the Netherlands, who, finally, ordered meat from a supplier in Romania. (Bhandal, 2013)
Following the horse meat scandal, many media reports accused companies of jeopardizing food safety to lower prices and gain greater market access. It’s obvious that cost-cutting models are lengthy and complex supply chains, which are highly susceptible…show more content… Public and private investments must be introduced in these areas to create scandal-proof supply chain. Actions must be taken on the suppliers who are committing the crime through proper implementation of food safety regulations at the ground level. Clear labelling laws, must be enforced to avoid food scandals in future. (Sampathkumar,