The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has moved to reassure people that local authority suppliers are being closely monitored after beef products in the UK supply chain were found to be contaminated by horse meat.

All suppliers contacted to date report a high level of confidence that the meat products supplied to local authorities remain unaffected due to the supply chains involved, and councils are working hard to ensure they comply with recent guidance published by the Food Standards Agency. Individual products are also being independently checked to ensure no equine DNA is present.

Councillor Neil Moore (Vale of Glamorgan), WLGA Spokesperson for Regulatory and Frontline Services said:

“Local government in Wales takes food safety very seriously and has long recognised the need to develop additional layers of assurance in the safe provision of food. This is being achieved by local authorities working collaboratively together not only in the way that they appoint their suppliers, but also in how they share information and identify areas of concern.

By working together, local government in Wales is achieving much broader visibility than would be achieved by councils working individually, and this means that the local government response to this issue in Wales has been both streamlined and timely. As supply chains are often complex in their nature this issue is still subject to an ongoing investigation process, but no issues have been identified to date and local government is working hard to ensure that the meat products supplied to local councils reach required standards.”