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Helen Dickinson, British Retail Consortium: "Retailers have not been reticent"
UK food retailers have hit back at government criticism they "remained silent" over the horsemeat crisis - as UK-wide test results on beef products are due to be released.
In a public letter, 11 major companies including Tesco and Asda, said they shared food shoppers' "anger and outrage" at the scandal.
They said they were "working around the clock" to resolve the matter.
Number 10 said it was pleased retailers had finally spoken out in public.
A source said: "Consumer confidence is one of the things that has been missing and that needs the retailers to explain themselves, and what they have been doing."
Earlier, Downing Street said big retailers selling affected products had a responsibility to answer key questions on the scandal.
Sources said it was not "acceptable for retailers to remain silent while customers have been misled about the content of the food they have been buying".
Meanwhile, the results of up to one third of tests on the presence of horsemeat in processed meals are due to be released by the The Food Standards Agency (FSA).
'More transparent'In the letter issued on Friday, the group of food suppliers said: "We can't accept a situation where the trust customers place in us is being compromised by fraudulent activity or even as alleged, an international criminal conspiracy.
"We will do whatever it takes to restore public confidence in the food they buy and eat."
The letter was signed by chief executive of Tesco, Philip Clarke, Asda Stores head, Andy Clarke, the chief executive of J Sainsbury, Justin King, and Dalton Philips, chief executive of Wm Morrison Supermarkets, among others.
Supermarket chain Morrisons also responded on Twitter, saying: "Contrary to what No10 is saying, we haven't all been silent."
A spokesman told BBC News the company had carried multiple interviews and had communicated with customers. "We couldn't have been more transparent," he said.
Safety issues
- The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has demanded food businesses to check for horsemeat in all processed beef products, such as burgers, meatballs and lasagne. The first set of results are expected on Friday
- There is concern that some horses are given a drug called bute (phenylbutazone), which can be dangerous to humans
- In rare cases bute causes a serious blood disorder known as aplastic anaemia, where the body does not make enough new blood cells
- Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain for this reason
- The Food Standards Agency ordered Findus to test its beef lasagne that contains horsemeat for bute, but no traces were found
Last month, Irish food inspectors said they had found horsemeat in beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK, and sold by a number of UK supermarket chains, including Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl.
Since then, a growing number of UK retailers have recalled processed beef products found to contain horse DNA.
And UK police investigating allegations horsemeat was mislabelled as beef have arrested three men on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.
Two men, aged 64 and 42, were held at Farmbox Meats Ltd, near Aberystwyth, and a 63-year-old man was arrested at Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Both firms have denied any wrongdoing.
The arrests came after the FSA said on Thursday that tests had found eight horses, killed in the UK, had tested positive for the equine painkiller bute and that six may have entered the food chain in France.
On Friday, it emerged beefburgers containing horsemeat had been withdrawn from hospitals in Northern Ireland.
'Restore trust'BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said there was frustration in government that while the actions of ministers have been scrutinised in the media, some of the large traders have seemed reluctant to make an appearance.
The British Retail Consortium's Helen Dickinson told BBC Radio 4 retailers had been focusing on the swift testing of products.
She insisted stores had "absolutely been communicating with their customers" already and had quickly withdrawn affected foods from the shelves.
Ms Dickinson added lessons must be learned by "all parts of the food industry" in the UK and Europe.
Culture Secretary Maria Miller stepped up the criticism by saying retailers should not be "let off the hook" for putting wrongly labelled products on their shelves.
But Labour's Mary Creagh accused ministers of being "asleep on the job".
Lab testsThe industry-wide test results, due on Friday, were ordered by the Food Standards Agency after the revelation quantities of horsemeat had entered some beef ready meals.
Food retailers said they would have results from about 30% of their product ranges.
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French meat processing firm Spanghero has been accused of selling horsemeat as beef
They said testing all processed beef ranges could take several weeks.
Some shops have already recalled products found to be adulterated, including Asda, which withdrew a beef bolognese sauce on Thursday - the first fresh beef product to be involved.
Aldi, Tesco and Findus have also withdrawn some beef-based ready meals.
Meanwhile, European food safety experts have met in Brussels to draw up plans to conduct DNA testing of beef products across the continent in the coming weeks.
It comes after the French government accused meat processing company Spanghero of knowingly selling horsemeat labelled as beef.
The firm has denied the allegations, but apologised to British consumers.
Spokesman Christophe Giry told the BBC's Chris Bockman: "I'm sorry. We never deliberately gave British consumers horsemeat - we were tricked as well."
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French food producer makes order
Comigel HQ in Metz, north-east France, asks its subsidiary, Tavola in Luxembourg, to make food products - including beef lasagne for Findus.
Factory orders meat
The Tavola factory orders the meat from Spanghero in the south of France.
Subcontractor used
Spanghero contacts a subcontractor in Cyprus to source the meat.
Subcontractor enlists trader
The Cypriot subcontractor in turn contacts a trader in the Netherlands.
Trader orders from Romania
The trader in the Netherlands places an order for meat with abattoirs in Romania.
Abattoirs send meat to France
The meat from the abattoirs travels to Spanghero in France. However, Romania rejects claims that it was responsible for wrongly describing the horsemeat from its abattoirs as beef. Horsemeat is always labelled as such, they say. The Romanian authorities claim records show orders had been for horse carcass - easily distinguishable from beef.
Meat used to make products
Spanghero sends the meat to the Comigel subsidiary's factory in Luxembourg before the finished products are supplied to Findus and retailers across Europe, including the UK. The president of Comigel says the company was unaware the meat was coming from abroad.
Horsemeat found in Ireland and UK
Tests by Irish authorities have found equine DNA in beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK. Traces of horsemeat have also been found in stored meat at another plant in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland. In mainland Britain, police and officials probing alleged horsemeat mislabelling have carried out raids at a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire and a meat firm near Aberystwyth. Three men were later arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act..
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