Bute tests show contaminated meat has got into food chain
Bute has been found in the meat from eight horses out of 206 killed in one week in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed today (14 February).
Since 30 January the FSA has been checking the meat of all horses slaughtered in the UK for traces of the drug, which is considered dangerous to human health and is not allowed in meat.
Six of the contaminated samples were found at LJ Potter Partners in Taunton and the other two at High Peak Meat Exports Ltd, a trading name of the Red Lion Abattoir in Nantwich, also known as Turners’.
The meat from Potters’ had already been shipped to France, and the FSA is working with the French authorities to trace it.
The remaining meat did not leave the Cheshire slaughterhouse and has now been destroyed.
From Monday (11 February), a new testing policy has meant no horse meat has been released from slaughterhouses until it is proved clear of bute.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.