Aldi horse meat contaminated products - why no refund yet?

EllenorR

Are Aldi offering any refund yet to consumers that have purchased any of the Aldi products that may be contaminated with horse meat?

When this issue first broke, Tesco were hung out as the main culprit with horse meat found in some of their budget line beef burgers. Whilst initial reports also suggested that Aldi in Ireland were also supplied with products from the same supplier, very little was mentioned about this.
BUT all the Aldi UK stores also removed their frozen burgers from their stores. Our store used to have a little notice on the freezer saying they were removed from sale as a precautionary measure, but I notice today (following yesterdays revelations which I'll come onto) even this has now been removed.

Tesco made out at the time that this contamination was both small in nature and unfortunately a bad co-incidence that testing occurred on a specific batch of products that were produced at a manufacturer immediately after they had produced products containing (and correctly labelled horse meat).

As a result, Tesco claimed there was no actual health danger associated with the contaminated products as the horse meat was a product intended for human consumption anyway ... but attempted to suggest the worst this really was was a 'mis-labelling issue'

However, Tesco did offer any customer who had purchased a 'potentially mislabelled product' a full refund. No receipt was needed, nor the actual product returned to store; all Tesco asked was to have the original packaging as proof of purchase.

Now with the latest revelations regarding Findus (and yet more Aldi products too), this appears to be a much larger and wide ranging issue. Findus are alleging this could be multi-national criminal activity and possible fraud. Whilst they do not admit any product is dangerous for human consumption, at the same time it appears they are not 100% sure it is safe as they do not know where the horse meat originates from so cannot say if it is fit for human consumption. There is some suggestion it might be contaminated with bute (phenylbutazone), a painkilling drug sometimes administered to horses but which should not enter the human food chain.

Findus advise that any potentially contaminated product should not be eaten, but returned to the original retailer.

So why arn't Aldi offering any refunds yet on the products they sold?
Or are they?


Edit: I have just looked at the lastest information from the findus website
http://www.findus.co.uk/

It now appears they have set up a customer helpline (using a freephone number) to advise customers what to do to obtain a full refund.

Aldi - what are you doing???

Olive_Oyl

Taken from Sky News .""We advise anyone who has bought any of these products to return them to their nearest ALDI store for a full refund. For any queries on this matter, our helpline number is 0800 634 7047 and our e-mail address is productenquiries@aldi.co.uk <mailto:productenquiries@aldi.co.uk"

http://news.sky.com/story/1049780/horsemeat-schools-and-hospitals-to-be-tested

EllenorR

Thank you Olive Oyl - I'm surprised they have not actually put this on their own website under recalls or something.

However, I see it only relates to the following two specific products:
Today's Special Frozen Beef Lasagne
Today's Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese

What about the other products they have removed from sale 'for precautionary measures'?
There were at least 3 different ranges of frozen burger they have removed from sale ... and perhaps some other items I don't know about.

The 3 products that have already been withdrawn from sale that I know about are:

Oakhurst 100% beefburgers (8 pack)
Oakhurst beefburgers (16 pack)
Specially Selected Aberdeen Angus quarterpounders

HappyMJ

Aldi have always offered a full refund on any product even if you cooked it up and didn't like the taste of it. All you need is the packaging.

EllenorR

HappyMJ wrote: »

Aldi have always offered a full refund on any product even if you cooked it up and didn't like the taste of it. All you need is the packaging.

Are you sure? Do you have a link please?

According to their website, (Box A) you need the receipt ... and need to return it within 60 days.
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/service/19266.htm

Those frozen burgers typically had a best before date of about 6 months.

Fire_Fox

You post is full of media drama language. According to the several online newspapers and this article/ statement Aldi have 'urged' customers to return the contaminated products anyway.

Previous products were only supposed to contain traces of horsemeat, the smallest testable amount. IMO you should be more worried about the other rubbish ingredients they add to processed meat products than a little equine DNA.

McKneff

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You post is full of media drama language. According to the several online newspapers and this article/ statement Aldi have 'urged' customers to return the contaminated products anyway.

Previous products were only supposed to contain traces of horsemeat, the smallest testable amount. IMO you should be more worried about the other !!!! they add to processed meat products than a little equine DNA.

And to add, the food has not been contaminated as such.

It is miss labelling. (at the moment)

buglawton

I think Findus has sorted it, future packaging to include with the labelling the words "may contain horse"

MysteryMe

I think the OP must have some beef with Aldi, or should I say horse.

EllenorR

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You post is full of media drama language. According to the several online newspapers and this article/ statement Aldi have 'urged' customers to return the contaminated products anyway.

I don't know what you mean by "media drama language"

Most of the information I have gleaned is indeed from the media (such as the BBC) but that is because of the dearth of information being made available from Aldi

The link you provide again only relates to two specific products - the two already mentioned in the link to the Aldi statement (on the Sky website!) kindly provided by Olive Oyl in post#2

EllenorR

McKneff wrote: »

And to add, the food has not been contaminated as such.

What would you call the presence of an unwanted and unlisted material in a product sold as 100% beefburger?

Is there a horse breed called Aberdeen Angus I don't know about?