The Food Standards Agency has announced that it is currently trialling a new magnetic-resonance analyser developed by the Institute of Food Research and Abingdon-based Oxford Instruments.

The latter claims that its Pulsar technology can determine what type of animal a piece of meat came from. It can apparently distinguish between fatty acids from horses, cows, geese, pigs and sheep; it is also being developed to recognise rat meat.

The provenance of meat has moved up the ‘national agenda’ since the so-called Horsegate scandal last year, when horse meat was found in meals being sold as beef.

Paul Bunting, sales director at Oxford Instruments, said: “Each fat gives off a different signal. Rather than sending meat for DNA testing, waiting up to a week for the result and paying £500, people can use this technology and get the result in minutes.”

He has made contact with all of the country’s biggest supermarkets.