However, the results only account for about a quarter of all the products eaten by consumers and did not look for trace contamination, a decision described as “pragmatic” by the FSA.
The results also did not include the positive tests uncovered by Whitbread and Compass.
“Clearly, this is a fast changing picture,” said Brown, who said more test results would be revealed on Friday next week.
Mark Woolfe, who led the FSA’s surveillance for a decade up to 2009, said the testing did not get to the root of the scandal because the problems in the supply chain that led to the contamination in the UK were still largely unknown.
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