Agency officials in Northern Ireland are today examining part of a consignment of fore and hind quarters of beef from the Republic of Ireland, which appears to contain spinal cord or residual spinal cord.
In Eastbourne, imported German beef was found to contain one hindquarter with spinal cord marked as fit for human consumption. The breach came to light yesterday (1st February) in one of 217 hindquarters imported into the UK through Dover. The consignment was exported from Germany by Fleisch-Versand Heinz Gausepohl from Bakum. Accompanying documentation stated that the beef was from animals under 30 months old.
The discovery was made at a meat cutting plant in Eastbourne, Sussex - the same plant which, on Monday this week, received a German hindquarter containing two inches of spinal cord. These two consignments were from different sources in Germany.
The Agency instituted 100% inspection of all imported German beef carcasses at licenced plants on Monday (29th January).