EU ministers to tackle horsemeat row

13 February 2013 Last updated at 15:43 GMT Nick Thorpe reports from an abattoir in Romania

EU agriculture ministers are to discuss the horsemeat scandal that has reportedly affected up to 16 countries.

Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney will chair the Brussels talks, which will seek ways to restore consumer confidence in meat products.

This comes after the discovery that meat sold in Europe labelled as beef contained horsemeat.

On Tuesday, a slaughterhouse and a meat firm were raided by police in the UK probing alleged horsemeat mislabelling.

UK Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said it was unacceptable if British firms were defrauding the public.

The scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry's supply chains across the 27-member EU bloc, with a number of supermarket chains withdrawing frozen beef meals.

Continue reading the main story Christian Fraser BBC News, Brussels

The EU has not had compulsory "country of origin" labelling since 1981, when a European court struck down laws in member states that contravened the bloc's single market rules.

But the events of recent weeks have shifted the debate to the issue of safety. How can a consumer make an informed choice if they have no idea where there food has come from?

The new law that will be outlined today would bring greater transparency - but many are opposed. German footwear companies say no-one would buy their high-end trainers if they knew they were largely produced in China. Food processors, like those who make frozen pizzas, argue many of their ingredients are sourced on a daily basis - changing the labelling accordingly every day would be complex and expensive.

And then there's the opposition of the World Trade Organization, which believes labelling makes little sense in our globalised supply chain. EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg says the rules of full traceability in the EU make our food safety system one of the safest in the world - but the facts speak differently. Pressure is building, irrespective of the opposition.

In the UK, the supermarket giant Tesco, frozen food firm Findus and budget chain Aldi received horsemeat-tainted mince from Comigel, based in northeastern France.

Horsemeat has now been confirmed in some frozen lasagne on sale in France too.

In Germany, officials announced that a shipment of frozen lasagne suspected of containing horsemeat had arrived in the country. They were notified of the delivery by authorities in Luxembourg on Tuesday.

Web of suppliers

Comigel denied wrongdoing, saying it had ordered the meat from Spanghero, a firm in southern France, via a Comigel subsidiary in Luxembourg - Tavola.

The supply chain reportedly led back to traders in Cyprus and the Netherlands, then to abattoirs in Romania.

There are now calls for more specific labelling on processed meat products in the EU, to show country of origin, as in the case of fresh meat. But the cost of doing that may trigger opposition from food manufacturers.

Romania has denied claims that it was the source of the mislabelling of horsemeat. Bucharest says horsemeat that leaves the country has not been minced, and is labelled as horse.

The Kravys abattoir, named as the source of the Comigel meat, insists that its labelling is correct, with horsemeat and beef kept clearly apart. It exports horsemeat to Sweden, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Poland in its own trucks, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports.

Continue reading the main story In mid-January, Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by UK supermarket chainsSubsequently, up to 100% horsemeat found in several ranges of prepared frozen food in Britain, France and SwedenUp to 16 countries involvedConcerns that drug used to treat horses, and which is harmful to humans, could be in food chainMeat traced from France through Cyprus and The Netherlands to Romanian abattoirsInvestigation suggests contamination was not accidental but the work of a criminal conspiracyThe abattoir is in Botosani, northeastern Romania, and slaughters 3-4,000 horses annually.

Agriculture ministers from the UK, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Sweden are expected to take part in the talks in Brussels, along with European Commission officials.

Retailers in some countries so far unaffected by the scandal have removed some processed foods from sale, as a precaution. That has been done in Germany and Switzerland.

In the UK the supermarket chain Waitrose removed its Essential British Frozen Meatballs, labelled as beef, after pork was found in two batches.

The EU meeting is an opportunity to exchange ideas on where the problem might have originated and how to stop it in the future, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports.

Tighter restrictions for the labelling of processed food are now in the pipeline, our correspondent adds.

"We are looking at whether (such labelling) is possible... but nothing is fixed yet," said a spokesman for EU Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Tonio Borg.

There are growing concerns that that a drug used to treat horses - and which is harmful to humans - could be in the food chain.

But EU officials say public health is not at stake, and the problem is instead one of mislabelling.

They say it is up to national regulators to take action.

Comigel HQ in Metz, north-east France, asks its subsidiary, Tavola in Luxembourg, to make food products - including beef lasagne for Findus.

The Tavola factory orders the meat from Spanghero in the south of France.

Spanghero contacts a subcontractor in Cyprus to source the meat.

The Cypriot subcontractor in turn contacts a trader in the Netherlands.

The trader in the Netherlands places an order for meat with abattoirs in Romania.

The meat from the abattoirs travels to Spanghero in France. However, Romania rejects claims that it was responsible for wrongly describing the horsemeat from its abattoirs as beef. Horsemeat is always labelled as such, they say. The Romanian authorities claim records show orders had been for horse carcass - easily distinguishable from beef.

Spanghero sends the meat to the Comigel subsidiary’s factory in Luxembourg before the finished products are supplied to Findus and retailers across Europe, including the UK. The president of Comigel says the company was unaware the meat was coming from abroad.

Horse DNA is also found in burgers from two processing plants in Ireland - Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods. Later, batches of stored meat containing horse DNA are discovered at Rangeland Foods in Ireland and at Freeza Meats in Newry, Northern Ireland. Both plants say none of the meat entered the food chain.

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