Sodexo: 'Totally unacceptable' to find horse DNA in products

To reassure our customers, Sodexo has decided to withdraw all frozen beef products from its UK catering operations with immediate effect.

Sodexo has had a pro-active programme in place to ensure that there is no horse meat in its supply chain.

We demanded written assurances from across our supply chain that the products we purchase did not contain horse meat, and additionally implemented an internal sampling programme.

Despite repeated guarantees from our suppliers, our sampling has identified a frozen beef product which tested positive for equine DNA.

This situation is totally unacceptable.

We felt the only appropriate response was to withdraw not only this product but all frozen beef products. We will only re-admit into our catering operations products that have affirmatively passed DNA testing, pursuant to laboratory test criteria.

We have notified the FSA of our findings and will assist fully in its investigation. We have also launched our own investigation to understand how this regrettable situation arose.

Food safety, traceability and quality remain the top priority for Sodexo and this is why we have taken these steps.Sodexo’s Tillery Valley Foods business which provides meals to the healthcare sector is not affected by the above.