Horse-meat scandal in Europe
The French and British governments have promised to punish those found responsible for selling horse meat in beef products at the heart of a growing scandal that started in Britain but is quickly spreading to France.
Benoit Hamon, French consumer affairs minister, said on Saturday (February 9, 2013) that an investigation had found that the horse meat had originated in Romania, although there were links with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg.
Owen Paterson, UK environment minister, said more cases of contaminated food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horse meat on processed beef products.
The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in Europe's giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks.
Benoit Hamon, French consumer affairs minister, said on Saturday (February 9, 2013) that an investigation had found that the horse meat had originated in Romania, although there were links with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg.
Owen Paterson, UK environment minister, said more cases of contaminated food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horse meat on processed beef products.
The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in Europe's giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks.
Findus beef lasagne contained
up to 100% horsemeat, FSA says
February 7, 2013 - via BBC News
The meat of some beef lasagne products recalled by Findus earlier this week was 100% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said.
On Monday Findus withdrew from retailers its beef lasagne in 320g, 360g and 500g sizes as a precaution.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the findings were "completely unacceptable", but Findus said it did not believe it was a food safety issue.
The FSA said companies would now be required to test their beef products.
"In order to get to the bottom of this, we're going to be requiring every company to test every product line," Catherine Brown, the FSA's chief executive, told the BBC.
"If we find any other cases, we will pursue our investigations vigorously until we find out what's happened and put a stop to it."
Ms Brown said it was "highly likely" that criminal activity was to blame for horsemeat being found in some meals.
'Cannot be tolerated'The FSA said Findus had tested 18 of its beef lasagne products and found 11 meals containing between 60% and 100% horsemeat.
People have been warned not to eat the products, which were made for Findus by French food supplier Comigel.
The FSA said: "We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk. However, the FSA has ordered Findus to test the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or 'bute'.
"Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain as [the drug] may pose a risk to human health.
"The Findus beef lasagne was distributed to the main UK supermarkets and smaller convenience stores. Findus has already begun a full recall of these products.
"People who have bought any Findus beef lasagne products are advised not to eat them and return them to the shop they bought them from."
Mr Paterson said the presence of unauthorised ingredients "cannot be tolerated".
"The responsibility for the safety and authenticity of food lies with those who produce it, and who sell or provide it to the final consumer. I know that food producers, retailers and caterers are as concerned as we are at the course of recent events," he said.
He said the government was working closely with businesses to "root out any illegal activity" and enforce regulations.
"Consumers can be confident that we will take whatever action we consider necessary if we discover evidence of criminality or negligence," he added.
Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said the latest revelations raised questions about the extent of the scandal.
"This is no longer just a food safety issue but possibly a criminal trade," she said.
Findus said the product was manufactured by a third party supplier and not by Findus. The frozen food company said all its other products had been tested and were not affected.
Findus said in a statement: "We understand this is a very sensitive subject for consumers and we would like to reassure you we have reacted immediately. We do not believe this to be a food safety issue.
"We are confident that we have fully resolved this supply chain issue.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused."
National surveyThis week supermarket chains Aldi and Tesco, as well as Findus UK, withdrew some beef products from sale after concerns were raised at their French supplier.
Comigel alerted Findus and Aldi that their products "do not conform to specification".
They advised them to remove Findus Beef Lasagne and Aldi's Today's Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today's Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese.
Tesco also decided to withdraw Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese.
The Tesco product was produced at the same Comigel site but there was no evidence of contamination, the supermarket said.
The wider food contamination controversy arose in mid-January when Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by a number of UK supermarket chains including Tesco, Iceland and Lidl.
Asda has withdrawn products supplied by Newry-based Freeza Meats which was storing meat found to contain a high proportion of horse DNA. Two samples were found to contain 80% horsemeat.
The horsemeat controversy has hit the Irish meat-processing industry, with a number of suppliers on both sides of the border affected.
The FSA has said it will co-ordinate a UK-wide survey of beef products to test for the possible presence of horse or pig DNA.
There will be "additional emphasis on brands at the lower end of the market, particularly for burger-type products", it said.
Twenty-eight local authorities across the UK will take a total of 224 samples, and results are due to be published in April.
The survey "aims to identify and understand factors that may lead to the presence of meat species that are not labelled as an ingredient, so that this can be explained, eliminated or correctly labelled".
The meat of some beef lasagne products recalled by Findus earlier this week was 100% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said.
On Monday Findus withdrew from retailers its beef lasagne in 320g, 360g and 500g sizes as a precaution.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the findings were "completely unacceptable", but Findus said it did not believe it was a food safety issue.
The FSA said companies would now be required to test their beef products.
"In order to get to the bottom of this, we're going to be requiring every company to test every product line," Catherine Brown, the FSA's chief executive, told the BBC.
"If we find any other cases, we will pursue our investigations vigorously until we find out what's happened and put a stop to it."
Ms Brown said it was "highly likely" that criminal activity was to blame for horsemeat being found in some meals.
'Cannot be tolerated'The FSA said Findus had tested 18 of its beef lasagne products and found 11 meals containing between 60% and 100% horsemeat.
People have been warned not to eat the products, which were made for Findus by French food supplier Comigel.
The FSA said: "We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk. However, the FSA has ordered Findus to test the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or 'bute'.
"Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain as [the drug] may pose a risk to human health.
"The Findus beef lasagne was distributed to the main UK supermarkets and smaller convenience stores. Findus has already begun a full recall of these products.
"People who have bought any Findus beef lasagne products are advised not to eat them and return them to the shop they bought them from."
Mr Paterson said the presence of unauthorised ingredients "cannot be tolerated".
"The responsibility for the safety and authenticity of food lies with those who produce it, and who sell or provide it to the final consumer. I know that food producers, retailers and caterers are as concerned as we are at the course of recent events," he said.
He said the government was working closely with businesses to "root out any illegal activity" and enforce regulations.
"Consumers can be confident that we will take whatever action we consider necessary if we discover evidence of criminality or negligence," he added.
Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said the latest revelations raised questions about the extent of the scandal.
"This is no longer just a food safety issue but possibly a criminal trade," she said.
Findus said the product was manufactured by a third party supplier and not by Findus. The frozen food company said all its other products had been tested and were not affected.
Findus said in a statement: "We understand this is a very sensitive subject for consumers and we would like to reassure you we have reacted immediately. We do not believe this to be a food safety issue.
"We are confident that we have fully resolved this supply chain issue.
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused."
National surveyThis week supermarket chains Aldi and Tesco, as well as Findus UK, withdrew some beef products from sale after concerns were raised at their French supplier.
Comigel alerted Findus and Aldi that their products "do not conform to specification".
They advised them to remove Findus Beef Lasagne and Aldi's Today's Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today's Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese.
Tesco also decided to withdraw Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese.
The Tesco product was produced at the same Comigel site but there was no evidence of contamination, the supermarket said.
The wider food contamination controversy arose in mid-January when Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by a number of UK supermarket chains including Tesco, Iceland and Lidl.
Asda has withdrawn products supplied by Newry-based Freeza Meats which was storing meat found to contain a high proportion of horse DNA. Two samples were found to contain 80% horsemeat.
The horsemeat controversy has hit the Irish meat-processing industry, with a number of suppliers on both sides of the border affected.
The FSA has said it will co-ordinate a UK-wide survey of beef products to test for the possible presence of horse or pig DNA.
There will be "additional emphasis on brands at the lower end of the market, particularly for burger-type products", it said.
Twenty-eight local authorities across the UK will take a total of 224 samples, and results are due to be published in April.
The survey "aims to identify and understand factors that may lead to the presence of meat species that are not labelled as an ingredient, so that this can be explained, eliminated or correctly labelled".
Organised criminal gangs operating internationally
are suspected of playing a major role
Horse-meat scandal blamed on international fraud by mafia gangs.
DNA testing of food to be stepped up following fears there has been
criminal activity on an international scale
February 9, 2013 - via The Guardian
Organised criminal gangs operating internationally are suspected of playing a major role in the horsemeat scandal that has seen supermarket shelves cleared of a series of products and triggered concerns about the contamination of the UK's food chain.
Sources close to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Food Standards Agency said it appeared that the contamination of beefburgers, lasagne and other products was the result of fraud that had an "international dimension".
Experts within the horse slaughter industry have told the Observer there is evidence that both Polish and Italian mafia gangs are running multimillion-pound scams to substitute horsemeat for beef during food production. There are claims that vets and other officials working within abattoirs and food production plants are intimidated into signing off meat as beef when it is in fact cheaper alternatives such as pork or horse.
In an attempt to reassure the public that Britain's food chain was not victim to systemic fraud, the environment secretary Owen Paterson on Saturday met representatives from the big four supermarkets, retail bodies and leading food producers to thrash out a plan to increase the amount of DNA testing of food.
"The retailers have committed to conduct more tests and in the interests of public confidence I've asked them to publish them on a quarterly basis," said Paterson. He stressed there was no evidence yet that the scandal had become a public safety issue.
Paterson insisted retailers had to play the leading role in clamping down on the problem. "Ultimate responsibility for the integrity of what is sold on their label has to lie with the retailer."
The last time the government sanctioned testing for horsemeat in animal products was in 2003 when equine DNA was found in salami.
The first results of a new series of tests for equine DNA in what the FSA terms "comminuted beef products" – where solid materials are reduced in size by crushing or grinding – will be published on Friday. "We have to be prepared that there will be more bad results coming through," Paterson said.
He confirmed that the government was open to bringing in the Serious and Organised Crime Agency if, as seems evident, the fraud is on an international scale. He said the Metropolitan police had been asked to investigate the scandal and that the force was liaising with counterparts in other countries. Paterson suggested the scandal was potentially a "worldwide" issue.
"I'm concerned that this is an international criminal conspiracy here and we've really got to get to the bottom of it," he said.
The Labour MP Mary Creagh said she was passing information to police that suggested several British companies were involved in the illegal horsemeat trade. "I hope that this information will enable the police to act speedily to stamp out these criminals who are putting the future of the food industry at risk."
Concerns about the substitution of horsemeat for beef first emerged in mid-January when supermarket chains withdrew several ranges of burgers. Fears of contamination prompted hundreds of European food companies to conduct DNA checks on their products that resulted in the food giant, Findus, discovering that one of its products, a frozen beef lasagne, contained meat that was almost 100% horse.
It has emerged that Findus conducted three tests on its products on 29 January that suggested there was horsemeat contamination. The revelation has raised questions about why it took several days for the products to be pulled from the shelves.
Findus indicated it was ready to sue as the company announced it would on Monday file a complaint against an unidentified party.
In a statement, the firm said: "Findus is taking legal advice about the grounds for pursuing a case against its suppliers, regarding what they believe is their suppliers' failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity. The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggests that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental."
Supermarket chain Aldi has confirmed that two of its ready meal ranges produced by Comigel, the French supplier also used by Findus, were found to contain between 30% and 100% horsemeat.
Comigel claims it sourced its meat from Romania, which has been subjected to export restrictions due to the prevalence of the viral disease equine infectious anaemia in the country. Spanghero, the French company that supplied the meat for the Findus beef lasagne, announced it will also sue its Romanian suppliers.
The scandal has raised questions about what happens to the 65,000 horses transported around the EU each year for slaughter. The campaign group World Horse Welfare said thousands of animals suffered as a result of making long journeys across national borders. Partly as a result of welfare concerns, the trade in live horses has fallen dramatically. In 2001, 165,000 horses were shipped across Europe.
The decline in the cross-border trade in live horses has seen an increase in the sale of chilled and frozen horsemeat, much of which goes to Italy. Last year Romania significantly increased its export of frozen horsemeat to the Benelux countries.
Attention is now focusing on eastern Europe, a major supplier of horsemeat to France and Italy. Some of the meat that went into Ireland came from suppliers in Poland, which exports around 25,000 horses for slaughter each year. Industry sources also suggested to the Observer that gangs operating in Russia and the Baltic states were playing a role in the fraudulent meat trade.
Other food companies have, as a result of their investigations, found that their supplies have been contaminated. The FSA confirmed that meat held in cold storage in Northern Ireland has been impounded after it was discovered to contain equine DNA. A London-based company, 3663, found pork in some of the halal meat it supplies the prison service.
Questions are now being asked about meat supplied to a range of public sector organisations, including the NHS. "Every NHS and healthcare organisation will have different local circumstances and it would be for those organisations to satisfy themselves that the food they supply meets the needs of their patients," said the Department of Health. "Any investigations into the provenance of those supplies would also be done locally."
British farmers have expressed concerns that the scandal could affect consumer confidence in British beef. "Our members are rightly angry and concerned with the recent developments relating to contaminated processed meat products," said the National Farmers' Union president, Peter Kendall. "The contamination took place post farm-gate which farmers have no control over."
Organised criminal gangs operating internationally are suspected of playing a major role in the horsemeat scandal that has seen supermarket shelves cleared of a series of products and triggered concerns about the contamination of the UK's food chain.
Sources close to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Food Standards Agency said it appeared that the contamination of beefburgers, lasagne and other products was the result of fraud that had an "international dimension".
Experts within the horse slaughter industry have told the Observer there is evidence that both Polish and Italian mafia gangs are running multimillion-pound scams to substitute horsemeat for beef during food production. There are claims that vets and other officials working within abattoirs and food production plants are intimidated into signing off meat as beef when it is in fact cheaper alternatives such as pork or horse.
In an attempt to reassure the public that Britain's food chain was not victim to systemic fraud, the environment secretary Owen Paterson on Saturday met representatives from the big four supermarkets, retail bodies and leading food producers to thrash out a plan to increase the amount of DNA testing of food.
"The retailers have committed to conduct more tests and in the interests of public confidence I've asked them to publish them on a quarterly basis," said Paterson. He stressed there was no evidence yet that the scandal had become a public safety issue.
Paterson insisted retailers had to play the leading role in clamping down on the problem. "Ultimate responsibility for the integrity of what is sold on their label has to lie with the retailer."
The last time the government sanctioned testing for horsemeat in animal products was in 2003 when equine DNA was found in salami.
The first results of a new series of tests for equine DNA in what the FSA terms "comminuted beef products" – where solid materials are reduced in size by crushing or grinding – will be published on Friday. "We have to be prepared that there will be more bad results coming through," Paterson said.
He confirmed that the government was open to bringing in the Serious and Organised Crime Agency if, as seems evident, the fraud is on an international scale. He said the Metropolitan police had been asked to investigate the scandal and that the force was liaising with counterparts in other countries. Paterson suggested the scandal was potentially a "worldwide" issue.
"I'm concerned that this is an international criminal conspiracy here and we've really got to get to the bottom of it," he said.
The Labour MP Mary Creagh said she was passing information to police that suggested several British companies were involved in the illegal horsemeat trade. "I hope that this information will enable the police to act speedily to stamp out these criminals who are putting the future of the food industry at risk."
Concerns about the substitution of horsemeat for beef first emerged in mid-January when supermarket chains withdrew several ranges of burgers. Fears of contamination prompted hundreds of European food companies to conduct DNA checks on their products that resulted in the food giant, Findus, discovering that one of its products, a frozen beef lasagne, contained meat that was almost 100% horse.
It has emerged that Findus conducted three tests on its products on 29 January that suggested there was horsemeat contamination. The revelation has raised questions about why it took several days for the products to be pulled from the shelves.
Findus indicated it was ready to sue as the company announced it would on Monday file a complaint against an unidentified party.
In a statement, the firm said: "Findus is taking legal advice about the grounds for pursuing a case against its suppliers, regarding what they believe is their suppliers' failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity. The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggests that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental."
Supermarket chain Aldi has confirmed that two of its ready meal ranges produced by Comigel, the French supplier also used by Findus, were found to contain between 30% and 100% horsemeat.
Comigel claims it sourced its meat from Romania, which has been subjected to export restrictions due to the prevalence of the viral disease equine infectious anaemia in the country. Spanghero, the French company that supplied the meat for the Findus beef lasagne, announced it will also sue its Romanian suppliers.
The scandal has raised questions about what happens to the 65,000 horses transported around the EU each year for slaughter. The campaign group World Horse Welfare said thousands of animals suffered as a result of making long journeys across national borders. Partly as a result of welfare concerns, the trade in live horses has fallen dramatically. In 2001, 165,000 horses were shipped across Europe.
The decline in the cross-border trade in live horses has seen an increase in the sale of chilled and frozen horsemeat, much of which goes to Italy. Last year Romania significantly increased its export of frozen horsemeat to the Benelux countries.
Attention is now focusing on eastern Europe, a major supplier of horsemeat to France and Italy. Some of the meat that went into Ireland came from suppliers in Poland, which exports around 25,000 horses for slaughter each year. Industry sources also suggested to the Observer that gangs operating in Russia and the Baltic states were playing a role in the fraudulent meat trade.
Other food companies have, as a result of their investigations, found that their supplies have been contaminated. The FSA confirmed that meat held in cold storage in Northern Ireland has been impounded after it was discovered to contain equine DNA. A London-based company, 3663, found pork in some of the halal meat it supplies the prison service.
Questions are now being asked about meat supplied to a range of public sector organisations, including the NHS. "Every NHS and healthcare organisation will have different local circumstances and it would be for those organisations to satisfy themselves that the food they supply meets the needs of their patients," said the Department of Health. "Any investigations into the provenance of those supplies would also be done locally."
British farmers have expressed concerns that the scandal could affect consumer confidence in British beef. "Our members are rightly angry and concerned with the recent developments relating to contaminated processed meat products," said the National Farmers' Union president, Peter Kendall. "The contamination took place post farm-gate which farmers have no control over."
Horsemeat scandal: Focus switches to Romania
February 10, 2013 - via BBC News
The Romanian government is investigating if horsemeat discovered in beef products in Britain and France came from an abattoir in Romania.
Officials said they would take action if laws had been broken.
The chairwoman of the Commons food and rural affairs committee, Anne McIntosh, has called for a temporary ban on meat imports from the EU.
But the shadow environment secretary, Mary Creagh, said that was not the answer to the problem.
Environment Secretary Owen Patterson told the BBC's Daily Politics programme: "This is a conspiracy against the public. It's either gross incompetence or an international criminal conspiracy."
He said the British government was determined to "get to the bottom of it" and was working closely with other European governments, but he said a moratorium was not allowed under EU rules.
But he added: "It looks as if the problem is limited to processed food and it looks as if there has been criminal substitution of beef with horse."
Findus, which has taken its frozen beef lasagne off shelves after some were found to have up to 100% horse meat in them, has said it will file suit in the French courts, believing itself to be the victim of fraud.
But the company that supplied the meat, Spanghero, based in southern France, has also said it was the victim of fraud - and intends to sue its Romanian supplier.
Six French supermarket chains - Carrefour, Monoprix, Auchan, Casino, Cora and Picard - have also withdrawn ready-meals made by Findus and Comigel.
That withdrawal of a broader range of products does not affect Findus UK's policy of withdrawing only frozen beef lasagne, the company's British subsidiary said.
"This does not change the UK situation - all other Findus beef products in the UK were tested and cleared," it insisted.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was confident patients eating food in hospitals were not being put at risk.
He told the BBC: "All hospitals have a responsibility to make sure the food they're serving is safe.
"We don't believe at the moment that there are public safety issues - there may be fraud issues in terms of people eating something that isn't what the label on the tin says it is."
Meat moratorium
Miss McIntosh, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, told BBC Breakfast: "None of our meat, none of our slaughterhouses, are implicated and we should be buying as local as possible and we should be buying fresh meat from the butcher, farm shop and supermarket."
She said she wanted a temporary ban on all processed or frozen meat from the EU and said: "I believe there should be a moratorium on the movement of all meat until such time as we can trace the source of contamination."
But Mrs Creagh said a ban on EU meat imports would have "the whiff of panic" and she said: "We need a measured, controlled response to this and it's got to be proportionate.
"What the government hasn't done is get a grip, get the tests on the burgers that were withdrawn three weeks ago out. We could have tested those. If they'd tested them, they could have reassured the public. What they've done is sit on their hands and now they're totally behind the curve."
She told the Daily Politics show: "The government had its industry summit yesterday and failed to invite in representatives from the big caterers who supply schools and hospitals so no tests are being carried out on burgers which are sitting in hospital and school freezers."
Asked why routine testing of meat for horse DNA was stopped in 2003, she said: "The Food Standards Agency tests for the presence of adulteration on the basis of intelligence.
"The last test was done in 2003 and since then, as far as I am aware, there hasn't been any intelligence that there has been any horse meat being passed off in beef."
The BBC's Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said the scandal had cast light on the bewildering complexity of the food business in the EU.
He said: "A Swedish brand - Findus - supplying British supermarkets employed a French company, Comigel, to make its ready meals.
"To get meat for its factory in Luxembourg, Comigel called on the services of another French firm Spanghero. It used an agent in Cyprus, who in turn used an agent in the Netherlands, who placed the order at an abattoir in Romania."
Our correspondent said: "That extraordinary Europe-wide chain of instructions has now been identified by the French anti-fraud office, which is piecing together how so much horsemeat masquerading as beef entered the food chain."
The French minister for consumer affairs Benoit Hamon said it appeared financial gain was the motive of the fraud and overall it could have netted the perpetrators £250,000.
Horsemeat in France is not noticeably cheaper than beef, but according to the Green MEP Jose Bove the price of horsemeat has recently fallen dramatically in Romania following a new law there banning horses and carts on the highway.
Temptation
He said this could have opened tempting possibilities for cheating.
Romania's National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority representative Constantin Savu said: "As far as we know there was horse meat provided from Romania, but this doesn't raise any problem, because we have more than 25 abattoirs authorised not only to butcher horse meat but also to export it within the EU."
He said: "We have in these abattoirs officially authorised veterinarians that assist and control the technological process from receiving the animals until the meat is ready to go out of the abattoir. They have certified papers and put official stamps on the meat until it exits the abattoir."
Mr Savu said: "There is no problem with the fact that we export the horsemeat but we cannot know what happens to it on its way to export, after it exits the abattoir."
He said they have begun an investigation to establish what happened but he said: "We have commercial papers for the meat, they are so many that they cannot be counterfeited.
"There is no possibility of changing the sort of the meat within the abattoirs."
"As far as we know there was horse meat provided from Romania,
but this doesn't raise any problem, because we have more than 25 abattoirs authorised not only to butcher horse meat but also to export it within the EU”
Constantin Savu
Romanian food agency ANSVSA
but this doesn't raise any problem, because we have more than 25 abattoirs authorised not only to butcher horse meat but also to export it within the EU”
Constantin Savu
Romanian food agency ANSVSA
For a struggling Romanian farmer,
the sale of a horse to an abattoir can provide a welcome boost
February 10, 2013 - via The Telegraph
For a struggling Romanian farmer, the sale of a horse to an abattoir can provide a welcome boost. But, 1,500 miles away, the discovery of that meat in frozen food products in British supermarkets has sparked the biggest food crisis in more than a decade.
A disturbing picture has begun to emerge of the way horse meat has entered the complex modern food supply chain – a chain in which meat travels thousands of miles across Europe for slaughter, processing and packaging before ending up on the plates of British consumers.
In the case of the horse meat discovered in several household brands, the first link in the chain is to be found in Romania’s rural hinterland. Here, horses are still used to pull carts and plough. Recent estimates put the number of horses still used for agricultural purposes in Romania as high as 760,000.
Traditionally, when a farmer no longer required a horse, it would be sold for export to countries where horse was accepted as an alternative to beef, lamb or pork.
More than 10,000 horses a year were exported from Romania this way. The majority ended up in Italy, where consumers have a preference for freshly slaughtered meat.
But two years ago the European Union banned the export of live horses from Romania, in an attempt to prevent the spread of equine infectious anaemia, a disease commonly known as swamp fever or horse AIDS, which had become endemic throughout the country.The ban led Romanian farmers to begin exporting slaughtered horse meat instead. In 2011, more than 6,779 million tons of this meat has been shipped either frozen or chilled to countries such as France, Belgium, Italy and Bulgaria for processing.
The sale of carcasses makes it far more likely that their meat will be sold for processing into ready meals, rather than sold as freshly-butchered cuts – and therefore able to be used instead of beef in the production of convenience foods.
The horse meat which has now been found in frozen meals in Britain was shipped by road from Romania to the Spanghero meat processing plant in Castelnaudary, in the Languedoc-Rousillon region of south west France. Here it was butchered into parts, apparently labelled as beef, and sent on for processing into ready and frozen meals by the French food manufacturer Comigel.
The Spanghero HQ in Castelnaudary is typical of the high-security processing plants at the centre of the global food industry.
It is surrounded by CCTV cameras and fencing, with guards at every entry point and exit. The 350 staff who work there are strictly monitored as they go in and out.
Inside, workers dressed in white overalls, head coverings, face masks and blue aprons stand at long tables turning cuts of animal flesh into convenience meals.
Meat regularly arrives in HGVs from all over Europe, before it is hung in refrigerated store rooms.
Spanghero, founded in 1970 by Claude and Laurent Spanghero, two former France international rugby players, was itself at the centre of a major health scare when, in 2011, it was forced to destroy 12 tonnes of beef mince after it was discovered to be riddled with E.coli.
Until recently Spanghero relied on its own abattoir in Castelnaudary, which slaughtered local animals. But, in a measure of the increasingly globalised food market, this was forced to shut last November in the face of cheaper East European imports, with the loss of 87 jobs.
Once butchered the horse meat was transported 642 miles from Castelnaudary to Comigel’s factory in Luxembourg, where it was turned into portions of frozen lasagne, spaghetti bolognese and other dishes for sale in supermarkets across 15 countries.
Questions are now being asked as to how much Comigel knew about the origin of the meat it was using in its products, particularly whether it was aware that horse meat was being used alongside, and in some cases instead of, beef.
The authorities in France have now begun an 'urgent’ investigation of their own into both Comigel – which has an annual turnover of £50 million – and Spanghero, and could bring fraud prosecutions against either firm over the alleged mislabelling of the meat.
Erick Lehagre, who runs Comigel from his offices in the north-eastern French city of Metz, said he was in “deep shock” over what had happened. “We are a responsible firm – this has not happened intentionally,” he said.
Highlighting the confusion in the global food chain, Mr Lehagre said he had been 'certain’ that Spanghero was supplying his firm with beef from French cattle.
After the horsemeat scandal broke last month, however, he established that Spanghero had in fact sourced the meat in Romania.
“We realised a week ago that there was a problem, after being alerted by customers in Britain,’ said Mr Lehagre.
“We have identified the supplier concerned, Spanghero. They’ve told us the meat came from a Romanian producer who used abattoirs which slaughtered both cattle and horses and processed beef and horsemeat.’
The Romanian authorities insist all horse meat has to be labelled as such before it can be sent abroad for consumption and that it could only have been relabelled as beef elsewhere along the supply chain.
Constantin Savu, director with the Romanian Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority said: “If it was substituted along the processing chain, than is not our problem any more.
“Romania has been authorised by the European authorities to participate in intra-community trade with horse meat, but the product could not leave the country when exported without a specific 'horse meat’ label.”
Whatever the truth of the matter the result in Britain – the last link in the convoluted chain of supply – was dramatic.
Last Saturday (Feb 2) Comigel informed Findus by letter that there was a problem with the meat content of its frozen lasagnes and spaghetti bolognese, forcing the British firm to recall 18,000 packets from supermarket shelves around the UK and destroy another 200,000 held in storage. The recall was only disclosed later last week.
Findus had already begun to test its own products following the start of the horse meat scare, when traces of horse DNA where found by Irish food inspectors in frozen beefburgers destined for Tesco and the other major British retailers.
The tests found that the meat content in the range of lasagne supplied by Comigel to Findus was made up of between 60 and 100 per cent horse.
Aldi, the supermarket chain, also confirmed that two of its ready meal lasagne and spaghetti ranges were found to contain between 30 100 per cent horse meat. The meals were withdrawn earlier this week as a precautionary measure and the firm has urged consumers to return the products.
Aldi said it felt “angry and let down” by Comigel.
Barthelemy Aguerre, the chief executive of Spanghero, insisted last night that he 'did not know’ horse was being sold off as beef, and said he would be 'taking the matter up’ with his Romanian supplier.
Mr Aguerre said there had been no attempt to pretend its 'beef’ was from France – as Comigel alleges.
France’s fraud office, the DGCCRF, has launched an investigation, and inspectors are visiting both the Comigel and Spanghero plants.
France’s Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said it was 'unacceptable’ for horse meat to be passed of as beef.
“What is written on a label must conform to what is in the product.”
The journey from hoof to plate is becoming murkier
as the meat industry finds new ways of cutting costs
The campaign Stop Horse Slaughter writes:
No British consumer wanting to stay healthy would ever buy meat from a stranger in the street, but this weekend it appears that this, in effect, is precisely what the firms that put food on our supermarket shelves have been doing.
Their supplier may ostensibly be a company in France with a nice website and smart offices, but the meat is no more French than it is beef. It has been extruded through a supply chain that could hardly be more opaque had it been devised by money launderers. It ought now to be clear that the meat trade’s supply chain can, when not rigorously policed, be a deliberately murky complexity of semi-regulated sources, abattoirs, suppliers, middlemen, imports, exports, labelling and relabelling.
Thus, it may say “beef” on the contract; it may even say it on the labels when the minced, boxed and refrigerated product is delivered, but, as The Independent on Sunday discovered yesterday, the route by which it came from hoof to plate means the meat bears about as much resemblance to beef as a chicken does to a kangaroo.
To read the entire article, please click here!
Starved, abused and neglected Romanian horses, or horses caught in the wild... are the secret ingredient of your lasagna, burgers, and and and...
Consuming the meat of horses that were not intended
for human consumption is dangerous!
It was established that horse meat contains unhealthy amounts of carcinogenic such as Phenylbutazone. This drug is more commonly known as "Bute" and is given for the same purpose and as often as Aspirin. It is banned for use in any animal intended for human consumption.
It causes serious and lethal adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early Alzheimer disease. (Source)
It causes serious and lethal adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early Alzheimer disease. (Source)