Asda withdraws sauce after test

Greencore has confirmed that it supplied the beef bolognese sauce that Asda has withdrawn from shelves after tests revealed the presence of horse DNA.

Staffordshire Council have decided to take meat off the menu in 350 schools across the county.

The move comes as the Government was accused in the Commons of "catastrophic complacency" in its response to the crisis, whilst police made three arrests in connection with fraud at two meat plants inspected by the Food Standards Agency on Tuesday.

Deputy Political Editor Chris Ship reports.

Asda has withdrawn four products from its shelves after its product 500g Beef Bolognese Sauce tested positive for horse DNA.

Three other products from the same supplier, Greencore, have been removed as a precaution:

• 600g Beef Broth Soup
• 500g Meat Feast Pasta Sauce
• 400g Chilli Con Carne Soup

French company Spanghero have rejected accusations in by the French government's investigation into mislabelling of horsemeat. In a statement to Reuters, it said it was selling beef.

The French government has said the French company involved in the horsemeat scandal, Spanghero, knowingly sold on horsemeat labelled as beef.

The government spokesman said that there was "no reason to doubt" that the Romanian supplier of the meat, was "acting in good faith".

A significant amount of horsemeat containing the painkiller phenylbutazone, or bute, could have been entering the food chain for some time, the Food Standards Agency said.

FSA Chief executive Catherine Brown said the agency increased testing of the horse carcasses over a three month period last year, after intelligence from abattoirs suggested bute was getting into the food chain.

More: FSA confirms eight horses tested positive for bute

Earlier tests by the FSA revealed that 6% of horse carcasses tested positive for bute, prompting the FSA to start testing 100% of horse meat in January, which revealed the eight contaminated carcasses. Ms Brown said:

Later today France is due to release the results of its investigation into how frozen meals across Europe became contaminated with horsemeat.

it follows the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) announcement that of the eight horses slaughtered in the UK which tested positive for the drug bute, six were transported to France and may have entered the food chain.