The discovery of horse and pig DNA in beef burgers in the UK and Ireland has rocked food retailers. Alex Lawson looks at the checks on the industry and how well the grocers reacted.
Despite the endless jokes and puns circulating on Twitter, the food industry has been dealt a serious blow over the last week as a result of the horse meat scandal. It is a serious breach in what is a tightly controlled market.
Tesco and Iceland in the UK and Aldi, Dunnes Stores and Lidl in Ireland were found to have been selling beef burgers containing horse and pig DNA.
The majority of the samples contained 0.03% traces of the DNA, however, in one sample of a Tesco Everyday Value beef burger, horse was 29% of the meat.
A total of 27 beef products were analysed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). Ten contained horse DNA and 23 had traces of pig DNA.
The FSAI has asked the retailers involved to provide comprehensive information on what went wrong and is considering whether to take legal action against the businesses at the centre of the scandal.
The matter was raised in the House of Commons last week when environment minister David Heath said the issue of horse DNA being found in beef burgers was “extremely serious”.
A number of stringent tests and checks have existed throughout the supply chain for decades, and they were considerably tightened following the BSE crisis in 1996. Therefore the news about horse meat shocked retailers and consumers, as headlines screamed about the scandal across the front pages of the national press.
Manchester Business School retail analyst and former Asda and Tesco executive Tarlok Teji says: “Here in the UK and in Ireland, since the BSE crisis the integrity of following cattle from farm through to processing has been pretty spectacular. The rules are so tight now it’s almost unimaginable this could have happened after the meat reached the manufacturer.”
Shoppers have become far more interested in where their food comes from and certification marks such
as Fairtrade, Soil Association and Red Tractor have emerged to inform shoppers about the origin and make-up of food.
Chain reaction
Several suppliers including Dalepak Hambleton, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods have been implicated in the horse meat scandal, but the FSAI has named several Dutch suppliers as the likely source. It is thought the suppliers added the horse meat as a powdered protein filler to the products.
Dutch suppliers might have supplied the meat, potentially imported to Europe from Brazil or Argentina, as beef, as horse meat is up to four times cheaper.
Another theory put forward by beef and lamb sector trade board Eblex is that the DNA could have been in a technical product used to bind the meat together into a burger. However, Eblex head of trade development Peter Hardwick warned this would only explain the 0.03% horse meat samples and not a proportion as large as 29%.
The FSAI hopes to trace both the origin of the meat and how it was combined with beef. There has also been speculation the burgers could have been in contact with machinery or transportation legitimately used to process or transport horse and pig meat.
One supplier said: “When supermarkets select their suppliers they do very thorough spot checks and study products carefully. I would be very surprised if the issue occurred in the UK or Ireland.”
The problem came as a surprise to the meat industry against the backdrop of extremely stringent procurement of meat by the supermarkets.
Meat supply chains can be complex, but products arriving in the supermarket are usually reared on a farm, slaughtered in an abattoir, packaged as single products (for example, chicken breasts) or processed with other ingredients to create meat meals such as lasagnes.
The processing can, in some cases, be done separately to the packing. The products are delivered to the supermarkets’ regional distribution centres and then on to the supermarket shelves.
Stringent checks are in place throughout the EU via a number of bodies. The European food hygiene directive stipulates that food standards bodies in each EU country hold responsibility for checking products originating from that country.
Most packhouses in the UK sign up for voluntary BRC accreditation because supermarkets rarely trade with suppliers without it, while products carrying the Red Tractor logo are from farms that have been subject to quality audits to guarantee farm assurance.
Supermarkets, as well as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also carry out their own audits. Food standards officials in the UK and Ireland undertake routine and spot checks on individual products and test DNA, while meat processors are also required to do regular microbiological tests to ensure products are fit for human consumption. However, as Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke pointed out, the latest controversy is not a food safety one because horse meat is edible.
Critical communication
Retailers have moved quickly to quash a potential PR disaster - which not only included endless Twitter jokes but a pantomime horse galloping into a Tesco store at the weekend.
Tesco and Iceland released statements and Clarke wrote a blog apologising to customers for Tesco “falling short” with its products, and assuring them that all the lines have been pulled from shelves. Tesco immediately withdrew the identified products alongside 26 frozen burger lines from the same producer.
Clarke said: “I cannot repeat enough: this is not a safety issue. The food safety authorities in London and Dublin have confirmed that horse meat poses no health risk.
“However, as a food retailer, customers must have confidence in the products we offer. Trust is essential. As a customer, you need to know that the food you buy and consume is what it says it is. Trust is hard won and
easily lost.
“It will never be comfortable telling as many people as we can that our products have fallen short, that we are investigating how that happened and will show them what we find. It is not comfortable, but it is absolutely necessary. We don’t help anyone by hiding and hoping.”
However, the grocer committed a faux pas when it tweeted “It’s sleepy time so we’re off to hit the hay” from its customer care account. After a barrage of criticism, Tesco apologised and said the tweet had been pre-programmed before the scandal broke.
Iceland reacted quickly to the news. A spokesman said: “Iceland will be working closely with its suppliers to investigate this issue and to ensure that all Iceland brand products meet the high standards of quality and integrity that we specify and which our customers are entitled to expect.”
Taking responsibility
The scandal wiped £300m off Tesco’s share price in a day - a stark warning that a swift downturn in shopper
perceptions can affect investors’ confidence.
The UK’s largest retailer will be keen to put the horse meat scandal behind it quickly.
Fellow retailers Asda, The Co-operative and Sainsbury’s have also pulled some beef burgers as a precautionary measure.
Morrisons, meanwhile, has used the controversy to its potential advantage, stating in press adverts that it owns its farms and abattoir.
The scandal comes at an opportune time for the Bradford-based grocer, whose chief executive Dalton Philips has said: “We are not getting our message across in the way it needs to. Our points of difference are unique.”
Next month, the grocer kicks off a campaign with TV presenters Ant and Dec to market its farming credentials.
Philip Hudson, head of food and farming at the National Farmers Union, says of the controversy: “This could
be very damaging for the image of retailers and farmers who have carefully built up trust in their brands and products.”
Hudson believes that all participants in the supply chain are responsible.
He says: “Retailers are the major interface with customers and it’s in the interest of their brand and brand values to ensure quality products reach the shelves. Farmers, packers, processors and retailers all have to take responsibility for their point in the supply chain.”
He cautions that pressure on the supply chain to cut costs to enable grocers to reduce prices is commonplace in the industry.
However, Teji does not believe this would cause a supplier to take shortcuts. “This is not about cutting corners,” he says.
“It is rare that manufacturers would risk losing a multimillion contract with a business such as Tesco. It is far more likely that somewhere down the line something has accidentally gone wrong.”
Important reminder
Until the source of the problem can be located it will be very hard to prevent an incident like this from happening again. However, checks are likely to be stepped up in the short term.
The responsibility for horse meat entering the burger supply chain is unlikely to fall on the retailers’ shoulders when the FSAI reveals its findings. But in consumers’ eyes responsibility is nevertheless likely to be attributed to those selling the products.
Ultimately, food safety and the origin of products are among the reasons consumers trust supermarkets and choose to shop there.
The controversy will doubtless serve as a stark and telling example of how closely retailers should monitor products sold in store and how quickly
Lessons from the scandal
“It has been going on furlong enough.” “Shergar and fries.” “What do you want to put on your burger? A fiver each way.” It’s the sort of crisis that brings out the best in British humour.
Of course, the humour overlays a serious matter that has put food retailers in a spin.
Human health isn’t at risk, but the idea of swallowing something surprising triggers an in-built survival mechanism that goes back to the Stone Age. Horse meat is a widely accepted part of the carnivore’s diet in France, but it isn’t here. We’re more in tune with Black Beauty, Follyfoot and Thelwell. No wonder the media, politicians and lobbyists have seized on this issue.
Food retail crisis teams have had a hectic week, responding to media, communicating with the public and working with buyers, store staff and producers to rid the shelves of ‘contaminated’ product.
This crisis has a life of its own. It can’t be controlled. Instead, crisis management teams are acting as horse whisperers, doing all they can to settle the situation. What is to be done in a crisis like this?
- If you’re unprepared, you’re in the wrong job. All retailers need a crisis manual.
- Know what you want to say and say it before you are asked. Customers buy confident, decisive action and humility. The big losers in a crisis are the businesses that say nothing. Social media has killed any possibility of weathering a storm. Sentiment has always moved swiftly. Today it moves at light-speed.
- Prepare for the unknown. Imagine the haunted expression that breaks on the face of a Paxman interviewee. What would you be horrified to be asked? Second-guessing Britain’s most challenging journalists is vital. Some BBC journalists use the “What’s in it for Mrs Miggins?” test for a story. Working out how the fictional every-woman Mrs Miggins might feel about your crisis is an excellent way to prepare quickly.
- Have three key messages and repeat. Simplicity and clarity are reassuring.
- Stay obsessively close to opinion. If you aren’t looking at Twitter, you’re bonkers. It’s as important to crisis management as radar and sonar are in warfare. Getting the tone right is essential.
- The first 48 hours used to be crucial. Now it’s the first 12. The days when physical newspapers mattered are largely over. It’s their websites and social networks that change sentiment in minutes. Corporate ships often get holed on the rocks because they are too slow. Getting the tense right is also vital. In your first interaction with the media you must have done several things. Never underestimate the importance of the words “we have already taken the following urgent actions”. It reassures and demonstrates momentum.
- Agree an approach and delegate. Yes, coordinate, but don’t do everything by committee. Have trusted lieutenants and allow them to get on with it. Team decisions eat time.
- Have an experienced external perspective. An external viewpoint brings nuance and objectivity and can steer you away from assumptive behaviour, jargon and self-interest. Find an adviser you trust and trust them.
- There will be an opportunity. When the dust finally settles something good will arise. It’s hard to see at the outset, but it will come.
Hamish Thompson is managing director of PR firm Twelve Thirty Eight.
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