Cost-U-Less has said that beef products caught up in a horsemeat scandal in Europe stand little chance of reaching the local store’s shelves.
Furthermore, Tom Kallio, vice-president of operations and general manager, said it would be very difficult to get the products into the island in the first place.
In January the Food Safety Authority of Ireland reported that after a targeted study examining the authenticity of a number of beef burgers, beef meal and salami products available from retail outlets, horsemeat was found to be in a number of the products.
Since then, more cases of horsemeat adulteration have been reported across Europe, including the United Kingdom and France.
However, Kallio told BARBADOS?BUSINESS?AUTHORITY that Cost-U-Less, an importer of bovine meat products, bought from one supplier out of the United States only.
“Our beef is the Black Canyon Angus beef. This is out of the Midwest of the United States and that is good because it is consistent. All of ours come from the Midwest,” he said.
“This is all USDA inspected and it also has to pass the Barbados inspection and certified by a veterinary officer. So the chances of horsemeat coming in here is almost zero. We only buy from one vendor for our beef so we know where it is coming from. We do not go to the open market and buy from whoever has the lowest price. Those guys were most likely buying it from all sorts of people and that is what happened,” added Kallio.
Earlier this month, the veterinary services department of the Ministry of Agriculture assured Barbadians that none of the affected beef products in the horsemeat controversy had made it into these shores.
Senior veterinary officer Dr Mark Trotman had said the department carried out “extensive trace back investigation” and to date, none of the identified products had been imported into Barbados.
“Since the situation is continuing and new companies and products are being identified daily, we will continue to closely monitor the situation and take whatever actions are necessary to ensure that none of the adulterated products are imported commercially into Barbados,” Trotman said. (MM)
