New research shows a fifth of samples contain unspecified animals’ DNA

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New research* released today shows that little progress may have been made since the last food scandal in 2013. Out of 665 results from England, Wales and Northern Ireland collected by the Food Standards Agency, 145 were partly or wholly made up of unspecified meat.

This latest data comes five years after the horsemeat scandal, when processed beef products sold by a number of UK supermarket chains were found to contain significant amounts of horse DNA. Primerdesign was credited as being one of the leading providers of DNA testing kits during this period**.

In total 73 of the contaminated samples came from retailers – including three supermarkets. A further 50 came from restaurants, while 22 originated from manufacturing or food processing plants.

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Sources
BBC News: Meat testing: Meat testing: A fifth of samples reveal unspecified animals’ DNA
** Wikipedia:  2013 horse meat scandal

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