Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said the reliability of food labelling has been put in doubt by revelations that some beef burgers in supermarkets contained traces of horse and pig meat.
Mr Martin said that those buying cheaper meat products were entitled to the same food safety and traceability assurances as those able to afford expensive cuts.
Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said he is confident the controversy will not damage the Irish beef industry.
Mr Coveney said most of the beef product exported out of Ireland was fresh meat. He said the problems identified affected the frozen burger market, which was predominantly in Ireland and the UK.
The Food Safety Authority has said there is no risk to health from the products, which were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.
All implicated batches of the burgers have been removed from supermarket shelves.
They were produced at two Irish processing plants, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and one plant in the UK, Dalepak Hambleton.
Meanwhile, the Dáil has been given further details about the chronology of events leading up to the announcement.
Mr Gilmore said 77 ingredient products had been targeted in a Food Safety Authority authenticity survey.
He said first samples were taken in mid-November by the FSAI and more testing at the end of the month led to samples being sent abroad for analysis.
On 21 December, the Department of Agriculture and the FSAI took samples of ingredients from some processors in Ireland.
Those results were received by the FSAI on Friday and the department was told on Monday lunchtime.
The Cabinet was told by Mr Coveney yesterday in advance of the results being made public.
Mr Coveney said the FSAI and the Government had waited until they had the full facts before informing the public of the test results.
He said there was no food safety issue involved and they needed to be sure of the content of the burgers involved before going public.
More controls on meat processing sought
The Irish Farmers' Association has called for more rigorous testing of third party products introduced into the food chain during meat processing.
IFA President John Bryan said farmers would expect that given the huge effort made to ensure full traceability of Irish meat from birth to slaughter, that rigorous controls would be in place to ensure food was not contaminated during processing.
The Director of Consumer Protection with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said the contamination of beef burgers with horse meat was more than likely accidental.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Raymond Ellard said there was no evidence of widespread subterfuge or ill practice where someone tried to substitute horse meat for beef.
He said a thorough investigation is under way, and the two companies involved have good traceability records.
"We know the companies do not buy or handle horsemeat. So if this happened, more than likely it's been accidental.
"But the inquiries are continuing and we will find out eventually."
Bord Bia is responsible for the marketing and promotion of Irish food world-wide.
Its Chief Executive Aidan Cotter said it has begun work to reassure and inform customers about the discovery of horse meat in Irish processed beef burgers.
Also speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Cotter described the discovery as deeply disappointing and said it was important to get to the bottom of it.
However, he stressed that Ireland's food industry is subject to some of the most rigourous controls in the world, and believed this would reassure customers.
He said that 90% of Irish meat exports to Europe are unprocessed 100% pure fresh Irish beef.
Mr Cotter said Irish processed beef products are primarily consumed in the UK and Ireland, with very little of it exported to Continental Europe.
The European Commission says it has been informed of the issue.
However, it says that since it is so far not a public health issue then its role is limited.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny stressed that the discovery has no implications for human health.
McDonalds has confirmed that its meat products are not affected by the recent revelations.
Tesco apologises to customers
Tesco has apologised to its customers following the discovery of horse meat in some beef burgers on its shelves.
It has now withdrawn the implicated products, which were produced by Silvercrest Foods.
Technical Director of Tesco Tim Smith said: "Our investigation of the supplier will cover in great detail exactly what happened, who was responsible for it and just exactly how long this has been going on. It is critical we get to the bottom of those facts to ensure that it never happens again."
He went on to say: "There are really only two ways this could happen. One of them involves illegality by suppliers, or suppliers to those individual suppliers, or gross negligence, in which case we are still very keen to get to the bottom of this."
He also said the company will not being taking products from that producer until the investigation has reached a satisfactory conclusion.
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