Horse meat found in school dinners

Horse meat has been found in minced beef served in school dinners in Leicestershire, a council has confirmed.

Leicestershire County Council said tests showed the beef contained less than 1% trace of horse DNA and has been permanently removed from school menus.

The council, which supplies 224 schools across the county, confirmed there is no health risk to pupils.

A second item to be tested, a beef grill steak, was found to contain no trace of horse DNA and has been reinstated on menus.

Wendy Philp, Leicestershire County Council's head of school food, said: "Following the outcome of the tests, we've moved quickly and taken prudent action and won't be using this product in the future.

"We want to reassure parents that there is no health risk and that we're satisfied with the quality of all the beef products we serve.

"The vast majority of food we supply is Red Tractor-assured and we will continue to regularly seek assurances from our school food suppliers to ensure that they comply with legislation."

A spokeswoman for the council said its school food service buys fresh and local produce within the UK and 90% of the menu is produced from scratch each day.