Tesco burgers containing horsemeat. Jawellnofine.
Then Burger King burgers containing horsemeat. What? Not the Whopper!
Europe’s horse meat scandal is bigger than we think. A French supermarket’s lasange was found to contain 100% horsemeat last week, fuelling fears of an internationial criminal conspiracy.
According to BBC.co.uk the scandal has widened to 16 European countries with the discovery of 100% horsemeat in a lasagne from a French supermarket chain:
“French ministers are to hold talks with key players in the meat industry as the horsemeat scandal widens to up to 16 countries.
Seven French supermarket chains have withdrawn frozen beef meals made by Findus and Comigel.
The move followed the discovery that foods sold in Europe and the UK labelled as beef contained horsemeat.
The scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across the EU.
It has already had an impact on distributors in the UK, France, Sweden, Ireland and Romania.”
Could be harmful to humans
There are now concerns that a drug used to treat horses (phenylbutazone) and which is harmful to humans, could now potentially be in the food chain. Tests to this effect will be completed this week.
The meat has been traced from France through Cyprus, The Netherlands to Romanian abattoirs and now the investigation suggests contamination was not accidental but the work of a criminal conspiracy.
Read the full contamination article here.