'Horsemeat free'

The catering firm that supplies Frome Community College's school meals has withdrawn all frozen beef products after equine DNA was found in its sampling.

Sodexo has currently withdrawn all frozen beef products from its UK catering operations but told the Somerset Standard the college had not received any of the affected products.

The spokeswoman said in a statement: "To reassure our customers, Sodexo has decided to withdraw all frozen beef products from its UK catering operations with immediate effect. Sodexo has had a pro-active programme in place to ensure there is no horse meat in its supply chain. We demanded written assurances from across our supply chain that the products we purchase did not contain horse meat, and additionally implemented an internal sampling programme.

"Despite repeated guarantees from our suppliers, our sampling has identified frozen beef products which tested positive for equine DNA.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

"This situation is totally unacceptable.

"We felt the only appropriate response was to withdraw not only this product but all frozen beef products.

"We will only re-admit into our catering operations products that have affirmatively passed DNA testing, pursuant to laboratory test criteria.

"We can confirm that Frome Community College did not receive any of the affected products."

College business manager Jane Hutton said the college had been working closely with the catering company.

She said: "We've been working closely with Sodexo and we have every faith in the service they provide to us.

"They are keeping us well informed on developments."