Norfolk/Suffolk: Schools Reassure Parents Over Horsemeat Scandal

8 February 2013, 13:21 | Updated: 8 February 2013, 16:56

Suppliers of schools and hospitals in Norfolk and Suffolk have been reassuring Heart that their food doesn't contain horsemeat.

Schools in Suffolk have their meals supplied by a private company called Eastern Facilities Management Solutions and they have told Heart today that they have spoken to their meat providers and have been reassured that all their products are free from contamination.  They told us their beef is all Red Tractor Farm Assured, from the UK and their burgers are made locally.

Norfolk County Council contract Norse to provide their school meals.  They have told Heart: "We have been in contact with our suppliers and they have assured us that none of the ingredients they supply to us are sourced from the suppliers that have been implicated in this investigation."

The James Paget Hospital have told us they only use fresh meat, from a local supplier.

West Suffolk Hospital say their catering is all done in house and the meat is sourced from local suppliers in Norwich and Great Yarmouth. it's all fresh, not frozen.

Ipswich Hospital told Heart: "Our catering services are outsourced but we are assured the contractors do buy all food products as locally as possible, with the majority of meat products sourced from East Anglian suppliers.
"We do take the issues raised by the FSA very seriously and will be discussing them with our catering contractors immediately."

The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital use a private company for their catering called Serco.  Heart's spoken to them this afternoon and they gave us this statement: “In line with the approach taken by the FSA, who have asked the UK Food industry to urgently carry out tests on processed beef products to see whether horsemeat is present, we are asking our food suppliers to urgently provide the same information to Serco.”