Newbliss meat company to sue ABP Group alleging Defamation

Meat trading company McAdam Food Products Ltd is to sue the ABP Food Group for alleged defamation and loss of business over assertions made publicly about the Newbliss company during the outbreak of the horsemeat scandal in Ireland back in February of this year.

The notice of High Court proceedings has been served on ABP. The outcome of the proceedings now initiated against ABP will be decided by the High Court.

McAdam Foods will allege in the High Court that ABP deliberately made ‘false and malicious allegations’ about him and his meat trading business. It will be alleged that this was in order to deflect media attention from ABP who were at the centre of the horsemeat scandal at that particular time.

 

Central to the case

Central to the case they say is a press release issued by ABP Group in February 2013. This stated “ABP Food Group confirms that Silvercrest purchased beef products from McAdams Food Service (circa 170 tonnes out of total beef purchases in 2012 of 18,000 tonnes). It now appears that, while Silvercrest purchased these beef products in good faith, horse DNA originating in Poland was present in some of these products.”

The allegedly false and malicious statement issued by ABP Food Group was widely distributed and reported in the Irish and international media, causing immense damage to the reputation and business of Martin McAdam and McAdam Food Products.

The Anglo-Celt has been informed that McAdam’s legal representatives Denis McSweeney & Company have informed ABP that their statement was false in that McAdam did not supply the meat to Silvercrest which tested positive for horse DNA. McAdam state that they supplied only 60 tonnes of beef in total to Silvercrest in 2012, and not 170 tonnes as stated in the ABP press release.

As the international horsemeat in beef contamination scandal unfolded from February 2013 onwards, McAdam Foods consistently stated they had no awareness or knowledge of there being equine content in meat products imported and supplied by him to his customers.

 

ABP response

In response, ABP confirmed to The Celt that its lawyers were notified on Tuesday, August 13 that Martin McAdam and McAdam Food Products Limited had issued defamation proceedings against ABP Food Group.

However, they say that the received documents did not contain specific information as to the details of the proceedings and the company is currently awaiting this information from McAdam Food Products.

The statement from the company went on to say: “ABP does not believe that there is any basis for the claim or that it has damaged Mr McAdam's reputation or the reputation of McAdam Food Products. ABP has every intention of fighting this spurious claim and is continuing to investigate its legal options against McAdam Food Products and other parties who are found to have supplied beef contaminated by horsemeat.”

The company added: “It is not appropriate for ABP to comment further in the circumstances.”