Horse meat scandal spreads across Europe

UK: A Europe-wide food fraud scandal over horsemeat sold as beef deepened Saturday as Romania announced an inquiry into the origin of the meat and suspicions of criminal activity mounted.

Frozen foods giant Findus initiated legal action and said the contamination appeared to be “not accidental”, while a French meat-processing firm at the centre of the outrage also said it would sue its Romanian supplier. British authorities announced this week that Findus frozen beef lasagne was up to 100 percent horsemeat, and equine meat has subsequently been found on the shelves in France and Sweden too. The consumption of horsemeat is particularly taboo in Britain, whose food minister on Saturday hosted a crisis meeting of retailers and officials amid growing public concern. “This is a conspiracy against the public. Selling a product as beef and including a lot of horse in it is fraud,” said Owen Paterson, the environment, food and rural affairs secretary after the meeting.

British authorities have said they are testing to see whether the horsemeat contains a veterinary drug that can be dangerous to humans. Beef lasagne sold by Findus and two own brand meals sold by pan-European supermarket Aldi were found this week to contain up to 100 percent horsemeat.

The meals were assembled by French company Comigel using meat provided by Spanghero, a meat-processing company also based in France.

Spanghero in turn is said to have obtained the meat from an abattoir in Romania, via a Cypriot dealer who had subcontracted the deal to a trader in The Netherlands.

AFP