Magnús Nielsson, co-owner of Gæðakokkar in Borgarnes, the company which produces the brand of beef pies which were found to contain no meat, maintains that meat is used in the product and has requested that further tests be carried out.
Archive photo. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Magnús told visir.is on Wednesday that the tests carried out by the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) must have been inaccurate as his company buys prime beef from SS and use beef stock, among other ingredients, to make them.
“I’m not saying that this is chock-full with mincemeat, but we use soya meat to supplement the meat and also use beef stock as seasoning. I know how the recipe is and this finding is therefore improbable,” Magnús told Fréttablaðið.
“This of course looks bad, if there has been any falsification of the contents. But, I reiterate that we don’t avoid using meat.”
Specialist at MAST Kjartan Hreinsson maintains that the results are correct. “This was worked on at Matís, our best research institute, which uses internationally accepted methods.”
According to Kjartan, a decision has not yet been made as to whether further tests will be carried out.
As reported last week, the results from the testing of 16 Icelandic products carried by different stores in the country found that they did not contain any horse meat but only beef and lamb as stated on the labels.
Click here to read more about the beef pies and another product by Gæðakokkar found to be falsely labeled.
ZR
