Professor Alan Reilly:

First, I will deal with the DNA issue and what is an unavoidable level. We need to establish what is unavoidable. When one is using mitochondrial DNA one can detect even ten or 100 cells. That is the level of equine, porcine or beef material one can detect. We do not wish to introduce a testing regime to put the industry in a straitjacket in which it cannot operate. There must be some form of tolerance in industry to allow the use of the same premises for processing different species and to allow some form of unavoidable crossover. We must establish this and get agreement with other trading partners in Europe such that we can all work to a given standard.

The most practical way would be to consider the quantification system. The quantification method used in this test involved nuclear DNA. There is a good deal less nuclear DNA in a cell than mitochondrial DNA; there is probably 10,000 times more mitochondrial DNA. Quantification is a less sensitive method. If we are to use that method with a limit of quantification of 0.1, it could become the standard for crossover contamination and it would be a practical measure. We must try to get European-wide agreement for that way of thinking. There is something else the industry could do. If there is unavoidable contamination with different species a business could label a product in a certain way. For example, the label could indicate that a given beef burger was manufactured in a premises that also processes pork. That would give a consumer some indication.

It is different when it comes to the strict faith groups. For example, for Muslims in the case of halal meat there is no limit of crossover. One must ring-fence halal food in production. For example, if one is processing halal beef, it must be processed in a premises altogether separate from any other species such as pork and so on.

These issues have all been thrown up by the study we carried out. We need to hold a broader discussion industry-wide with stakeholders to try to reason things out and determine what the industry norm should be. What our testing system has done will raise the bar for consumer protection. Tesco has already gone down the road and committed to introducing this form of testing. There will be greater protection for consumers.