BBC News, 10
April 2013
Horsemeat
scandal
 |
| The horsemeat scandal has damaged European consumer confidence in processed food |
The meat
was being recalled because its exact source could not be verified, Dutch food
authorities said.
The meat
was supplied by Dutch trading companies Wiljo Import en Export B.V. and
Vleesgroothandel Willy Selten.
About 130
companies in the Netherlands and some 370 more around Europe are affected by
the recall.
There was
no evidence that the meat was a threat to human health, the Netherlands Food
and Consumer Product Safety Authority said.
Inspectors
examining the Dutch trading companies' records found that the origin of the
supplied meat was unclear, officials added.
As a result
it was not possible to confirm whether slaughterhouses had respected
procedures.
'Might
contain horsemeat'
Some of the
meat was exported to Germany, France and Spain. The authorities in those
countries have been alerted.
"It
might contain traces of horsemeat, but we don't know for certain at the moment
if this is the case," the Dutch food authority said on Wednesday.
"The
buyers have probably already processed the meat and sold it on. They, in turn,
are obliged to inform their own customers."
Horse DNA
has been found in numerous processed beef frozen meals across Europe.
In
February, Dutch officials raided a meat processing plant suspected of
mislabelling beef and withdrew suspicious products from supermarket shelves.
The
mislabelled meat was also discovered in the UK, the Republic of Ireland,
France, Switzerland, Sweden and Germany.
In
response, EU member states have launched tests for horse DNA in processed beef
foods and to detect a medicinal drug used on horses.
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