Pick n Pay responds to Stellenbosch meat products report

14 April 2013

Pick n Pay customers can be reassured by Pick n Pay's policy and principle that if it's not on the label, it's not in the product...

The Stellenbosch study tells us what we already know, that DNA testing can reveal minute traces of genetic material in a product. The internationally recognised threshold is 1%. We have commissioned 700 independent scientific tests on this basis and all have proved negative - we have had no "adding" or substitution (see City Press report).

Food safety is our top priority and we go to great lengths to ensure our food is safe. Those who supply our food are selected very carefully and we employ 42 full-time food technologists to test the food we sell to ensure its safety and quality.

We place huge value in the trust of our customers. We take the Stellenbosch University study seriously and want to explain to our customers what it tells us, and also what it doesn't tell us.

What it tells us is that DNA testing is a powerful new tool which can detect even the most minute traces of genetic material in a product - well below 1% of a product and as low as one hundredth of 1%. The Stellenbosch study has found minute quantities of other species of animal DNA in a number of meat products. DNA testing in Europe and around the world has produced similar results in food produced by some of the world's leading food businesses.

What the Stellenbosch study does not tell us is that this amounts to a problem of meat substitution or contamination, deliberate or otherwise. Put simply, minute quantities of DNA can transfer from one material to another, most commonly in the meat processing facilities which are preparing meat from different species at different times, or even on the farm - in fact anywhere in the supply chain. The CGCSA has already explained that such minute findings can be expected.

To try to differentiate between these minute levels of DNA transfer and any cases of genuine meat substitution, food safety authorities around the world have been applying a 1% threshold or tolerance level.

Pick n Pay has commissioned independent DNA laboratories to test over 700 meat samples over the past few weeks on this basis. None has come back positive. So today we can confidently stick by our principle that "if it isn't on the label, it isn't in the product."

We are reassured by these findings, which we believe provide a much more relevant test of the safety and efficacy of our food for our consumers. But we are not complacent. We will continue to test our products thoroughly and ensure our suppliers uphold the highest procedures and standards.

Statement issued by Pick n Pay, April 14 2013

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