Tesco will continue to source fresh beef from ABP despite dumping subsidiary Silvercrest Foods as a supplier because of the horse burger scandal.

ABP said it understood Tesco’s decision to stop sourcing from Silvercrest Foods but welcomed its decision to continue taking fresh beef from other ABP companies.

“We have learnt important lessons from this incident and we are determined to ensure that this never happens again,” said ABP CEO Paul Finnerty in a statement issued this afternoon.

ABP had let its customers down in the horse meat incident for which it apologised, the company said, adding that it was “determined not to allow the Silvercrest incident to overshadow what is a great business.” It had implemented a total management change at Silvercrest, which remained closed, and had effected a group re-organisation to better manage its convenience foods business. 

ABP also stated its intention to become an “industry leader” in DNA testing procedures and said it had put new procedures in place to audit all third party suppliers.

This morning, Tesco announced it was delisting Silvercrest as a supplier because it had failed to follow Tesco requirements in sourcing only UK and Irish beef, from approved suppliers.

Tesco also announced its intention to introduce DNA checks across its meat products but a spokeswoman said it was too early to give details of their scope, scale, cost or who would carry them out.

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