Horse Burger
© GettyThe burgers were on sale in a number of supermarkets.
A total of 27 beef burger products were analysed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and 10 of them, or 37%, tested positive for horse DNA.

The FSAI said the meat came from two Irish processing plants, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and one in the UK - Dalepak Hambleton.

It was on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.

Professor Alan Reilly of the Food Safety Authority said the horsemeat poses no risk to public health but does raise concerns.

"The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried," he explained. "Consumers who have purchased any of the implicated products can return them to their retailer.

"Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process. In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger."

In a statement, Tesco said it apologises for any distress the findings have caused consumers.

"We immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question," said Tim Smith, Group Technical Director.

"We are working with the authorities in Ireland and the UK, and with the supplier concerned, to urgently understand how this has happened and how to ensure it does not happen again.

"We will not take any products from this site until the conclusion and satisfactory resolution of an investigation. We understand that many of our customers will be concerned by this news, and we apologise sincerely for any distress."