Criticism of Tesco firms, including Tesco and Asda, said they shared shoppers' "anger and outrage". Whitbread vowed to remedy the unacceptable situation on 26 February . The Food Standards Agency's (FSA) chief executive, Catherine Brown also said "it is unlikely we will ever know" how many unwittingly ate horse meat. On 22 May 2007 the BBC's "Whistleblower" programme showed undercover footage detailing breaches of food hygiene rules in a branch of Tesco. The Whistleblower reporter applied for a job following a tip-off from a former employee. Breaches included the sale of products after their sell-by date; allegations that the company illegally and sold
Tesco after Cohen purchased a shipment of tea from "T. E. Stockwell" and combined those initials with the first two letters of his surname, and the first Tesco shop opened in 1931 in Burnt Oak, Barnet. His business expanded rapidly, and by 1939 he had over 100 Tesco shops across the country. Originally a UK grocer, Tesco has expanded globally since the early 1990s, with operations in 11 other countries in the world. The company pulled out of the USA in 2013, but continues to see growth elsewhere. Since the 1960s, Tesco has diversified into areas such as the retailing of