GUELPH, Ont. – Popular fast food and frozen hamburgers being sold in Canada do not contain horsemeat, according to testing of a dozen different types of burgers by Ontario researchers.

Following reports that horsemeat was found in some frozen meat products in Europe, the University of Guelph-based Biodiversity Institute of Ontario used advanced DNA testing on a range of hamburgers sold in Canada and found they were 100 per cent beef.

The Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding at the institute tested six cooked burgers: A&W’s Mama Burger, Burger King’s Whopper, Dairy Queen’s FlameThrower, Harvey’s original burger, the McDonald’s Big Mac, and Wendy’s Bacon Double Cheeseburger.

Fresh lean ground beef in a tube (Better Beef — Cargill) and Food Basics fresh lean ground beef were also tested.

The researchers used DNA barcoding, a molecular technique developed by U of G integrative biology professor Paul Hebert. It allows scientists to match small DNA sequences from unknown specimens to those derived from expert-identified reference specimens.

“This testing is something all Canadians should be proud of — knowing the hamburger meat they are buying is beef with no substitutes detected or additions,” Hebert, Canada Research Chair in Molecular Biodiversity and director of the BIO, said in a release.

Photo: via CP