THE public outcry over a revelation that beefburgers being sold by supermarket giant Tesco contained traces of horse meat has led to a Saffron Walden butchers reassuring its customers they have neigh’thing to worry about.

Family-run Burtons Butchers, on King Street, said its burgers were handmade by staff using prime English and Scottish beef – meaning residents in the town are not left waiting fur-long to taste them.

Andrew Burton of Burtons Butchers, who will be discussing the subject on BBC Radio Essex tomorrow, said: “It’s truly satisfying knowing we can provide our customers with high quality meat products. We can tell them where the meat has come from and what it was fed.

“All our meat is sourced from local farms, or hand-picked from Smithfield market in London by myself. This should be a process all meat providers go through – it gives you the knowledge of what you’re selling.”

Burtons Butchers said it stocked a wide selection of free range produce, including award-winning sausages and homemade burgers customers are sure to be jockeying for position to enjoy.

Earlier this week scientific tests by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland revealed horse meat accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the meat content in one sample of a Tesco beef product.

A total of 27 products were tested, with ten of them containing horse DNA and 23 pig DNA.

The DNA tests found horse in the following products: Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers 29.1pc; Tesco Beef Quarter Pounders 0.1pc; Oakhurst Beef Burgers in Aldi 0.3pc; Moordale Quarter Pounders in Lidl 0.1pc; Flamehouse Chargrilled Quarter Pounders in Dunnes Stores 0.1pc; two varieties of Iceland Quarter Pounders 0.1pc.

Even lower levels were recorded in Moordale Beef Burgers in Lidl and St Bernard Beef Burgers in Dunnes Stores.

Professor Alan Reilly, chief executive of the FSAI, said there was no health risk but also no reasonable explanation for horse meat to be found.

He said: “The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried.”