The Food Standards Agency has suggested that food labelling claims have improved in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, which erupted in January 2013, when meat products labelled as being pure beef on sale in the UK and Ireland were found to contain meat from horses and other animals.

The scandal led to widespread testing of processed meat products, implicating a number of catering firms, processors and supermarkets across Europe. Testing uncovered instances of pasties, labelled as being Halal, which contained pig DNA and processed ‘beef’ products which contained up to 100 percent horsemeat.

The results of an FSA study, in which samples were taken between December 2013 and January 2014, were released on Tuesday. The Agency said its investigation did not uncover any evidence of food on sale with bogus country of origin claims.

The agency investigated 96 food samples (of foodstuffs including beef, pork, lamb, apple juice, tomatoes and honey) from retailers and wholesalers, with a few also coming from catering firms.  

Andrew Rhodes, Chief Operating Officer at the FSA, commented, "It's vital that consumers are provided with a true picture as to where the food they buy comes from. If it says it’s produce from the UK then it should be. We wanted, in this study, to check whether people were receiving accurate information on the origin of their food and the results are reassuring for consumers and businesses.

"We also wanted to gain experience of using the relatively new SIRA technology (stable isotope ratio analysis – a screening technique) as a tool to show the country of origin of foodstuffs. We found SIRA effective in raising questions about where a food comes from but we relied on traceability information to further investigate origin."

FSA analysts also used supporting traceability documentation to back up origin claims.