Tuesday 12 February 2013


Horsemeat scandal: Minister to hold new food summit

Findus lasagneThe horsemeat scandal has been linked to several products including some frozen lasagne

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Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is due to meet food industry representatives for the second time in a week to discuss the horsemeat crisis.
Mr Paterson told the Commons on Monday that it appeared "criminal activity" had been at the heart of the scandal.
MPs will discuss the issue after Labour called a debate on Tuesday afternoon.
It comes after the meat in some Tesco Everyday Value spaghetti bolognese, withdrawn from sale last week, was found to contain 60% horsemeat.
Tougher testing
The summit will be the environment secretary's second meeting with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), supermarkets and distributors in a matter of days.
On Saturday, Mr Paterson held an emergency meeting to try to discover how products labelled as beef and sold in supermarkets in fact contained up to 100% horsemeat.

Safety issues

  • Experts say horsemeat itself should be no more dangerous than beef to eat
  • The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has ordered food businesses to check for horsemeat in all processed beef products, such as beef burgers, meatballs and lasagne. The first set of results is expected on Friday 15 February
  • There is concern that some horses are given a drug called bute (phenylbutazone) which can be dangerous to humans
  • Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain for this reason
  • The FSA says all horse carcasses in the UK have been tested for bute since 30 January
  • The FSA has also ordered Findus to test its lasagne containing horsemeat for bute
Retailers have agreed to carry out tougher testing of beef products and Mr Paterson warned that "more bad news" could come when the results are revealed on Friday.
The minister said there were plans to test all processed beef in the UK.
Mr Paterson told MPs testing should take place every three months, and the FSA should be notified of the results.
The environment secretary is also expected to brief the cabinet on the crisis later.
Labour will urge the government to speed up testing in order to restore consumer confidence when MPs debate the issue in the Commons later.
Meanwhile, two Northern Ireland Assembly committees are holding a special meeting later on Tuesday to debate the issue of contaminated meat.
A consignment of meat at Newry firm Freeza Meats was last week found to contain about 80% horsemeat.
The horsemeat scandal was sparked last month when Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by a number of UK supermarket chains.
The crisis has spread all over Europe as details of the convoluted supply chain in the meat industry emerge.
'Appropriate process'
Tesco became the latest firm to announce it was dropping French food supplier Comigel after DNA tests on the frozen bolognese were known.
The supermarket giant took the spaghetti bolognese off the shelves when it found out it came from the same factory as Findus beef lasagne, also at the centre of the horsemeat controversy.
Tesco said the level of contamination suggested Comigel was "not following the appropriate production process".
Findus Beef Moussake being removed from a shop outside ParisSome meat products have been withdrawn in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as the UK
Tesco Group technical director Tim Smith said: "We are very sorry that we have let customers down."
The bolognese was also tested for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone as animals treated with "bute" are not allowed to enter the food chain. The results were clear.
On Wednesday, EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg and other European ministers will meet in Brussels to consider the impact of the horsemeat scandal.
The meeting was called by the Irish Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency.
Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said the summit would discuss "whatever steps may be necessary at EU level to comprehensively address this matter".
One proposal they will discuss is to make a label of origin obligatory for processed meat just as it is for unprocessed meat.
French anti-fraud inspectors have been at the Comigel headquarters in Metz, north-east France.
Investigators were also at the offices of importer Spanghero, in the south of France, which brought the meat to France from Romania, via several other countries and agents.
After Spanghero, the meat then went to a Comigel factory in Luxembourg, which made ready meals for Findus and retailers in 16 countries.
Romania has rejected claims that it was responsible for wrongly describing horsemeat from its abattoirs as beef.                    bbc

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