IT WAS a scandal that rocked Europe. But now an Oxfordshire firm is helping supermarkets spot the difference between beef and horsemeat.

Engineers at Oxford Instruments and the Institute of Food Research have developed a machine called Pulsar that can identify meat before it is processed.

Earlier this year, the horsemeat scandal rocked retailers across the European Union when horsemeat was found in beef products. But the new technology can instantly identify fatty acids from horses, cows, geese, pigs and sheep.

Marketing manager Neil Dagger explained how the device works.

He said: “It uses a scientific technique called magnetic resonance, which finds the fat content in different animals’ meat. This gives off a reading to the instrument we have created which then determines the species.”

Mr Dagger said the Pulsar machine had been developed over the last year since horsemeat was first detected in beef following tests in Ireland in December last year.

He said the advantage of the new device was that it was cheap and quick to get results.

He added: “There are labs that run tests but these can be expensive.

“The Pulsar costs £50,000 and anyone that has requirement to test meat in the industry can buy one. We are selling it into academia, universities and retailers.

“There has been a huge amount of interest.”

He added: “We have started talks with supermarkets and one in particular has shown a real interest.”

Mid-size retailers currently spend up to £1m a year on sending samples for testing.

They can also have to wait for up to a week for the outcome of the results, rather than the Pulsar which produces an instant read-out.

Mr Dagger said the device was an important breakthrough, adding: “The intention is that the customers will be in a better position knowing that the meat they have is from the source they expected.

“It was a controversial area and one of high interest, and we are delighted to have a product that addresses something so important.”

Lynn Shepherd, director of communications at the hi-tech engineering firm based at Tubney Woods, near Abingdon, said: “This has created a lot of interest because retailers have to send off samples at the moment which costs £500 a time and regularly takes a week to get back.”

How the scandal started

  • THE horsemeat scandal broke early this year when supermarket products labelled as beef were found to contain traces of horse DNA. Horsemeat was later found in food including frozen beef burgers and lasagnes.
  • In January, supermarket giant Tesco apologised after burgers were withdrawn. The company’s ‘free from’ frozen beef quarter pounders, which had been withdrawn as a precaution, were being sold at its store in Cowley.