Horsemeat scandal escalates
2013-02-09 22:35
London - The French and British governments promised on Saturday to punish
those found responsible for selling horsemeat in beef products at the heart of
a growing scandal that started in Britain but is quickly spreading to France.
French Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon said an investigation had
found that the horsemeat had originated in Romania, although there were links
with French, Dutch and Cypriot firms and a factory in Luxembourg.
British environment minister Owen Paterson said more cases of contaminated
food could emerge as British retailers conducted tests for horsemeat on
processed beef products. The scandal threatens to affect consumer confidence in
Europe's giant food industry, with pressure rising for greater checks.
The British unit of frozen foods group Findus began a recall this week of
its beef lasagne from retailers on advice from its French supplier, Comigel,
over concerns that some packs contained high levels of horsemeat.
Findus France said it too had recalled lasagne and two other products after
discovering that they included horsemeat from Romania rather than beef from
France as it had thought.
Hamon said an EU-wide alert had been sent out and that it was not yet clear
whether there had been an intentional fraud or the meat had been sold as beef
by accident.
"I can assure you that, whether it's a question of negligence or direct
responsibility, there will be sanctions," Hamon said on iTele television.
Findus France Director General Matthieu Lambeaux said in a statement the
company would file a legal complaint on Monday.
"We thought we had certified French beef in our products. But in
reality, we were supplied with Romanian horsemeat. We have been deceived,"
Lambeaux said.
Hamon said a Luxembourg factory had been supplied by the French firm Poujol,
which had bought the meat frozen from a Cypriot trader, who in turn
sub-contracted the order to a Dutch trader supplied by a Romanian abattoir.
However, Findus's supplier Comigel, a frozen foods producer based in eastern
France, told a newspaper it had bought the meat from another French company,
supplied from a Romanian abattoir.
In Britain Findus said it believed the contamination was deliberate.
"The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly
suggests that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not
accidental," it said.
Findus's product recall was followed in Britain by supermarket chain Aldi,
which withdrew two frozen beef products supplied by Comigel after they tested
positive for horsemeat.
Paterson summoned Britain's leading food retailers and representatives of
food processors to an emergency meeting at his office in London on Saturday to
discuss the crisis.
He said participants were determined to get to the bottom of a scandal which
he said was either caused by "gross incompetence or what I suspect is an
international criminal conspiracy".
Britain's government is under pressure to appear on top of the scandal,
which comes less than a month after supermarket chain Tesco and fast food
outlet Burger King found horsemeat in beef burgers from an Irish supplier.
Britons generally do not eat horsemeat, regarding its consumption as a quirk
of French appetites. However, the meat has also fallen out of favour with
consumers in France.
