Propsal: Horse Meat Scandal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/10/horsemeat-scandal-fear-culprits-justice

"almost four months after the widespread adulteration of beef products with horsemeat was revealed by the food safety authority of Ireland, there are growing fears in the UK that the investgiation to identify the full extent of the fraud is being shut down, the Guardian had learned.

"there is deep frustration. there's a belief the FSAI must have known exactly what it was looking for, but the irish end is in lockdown and there is not the full flow of information we'd expect. we have a sense of immense pressure to close it down," - a senipr figure in the UK enforcement said.

a high-profile victim in the food industry, said : " it looks as though the authorities are not going to be able to identify and prosecute any major abattoir or processor that sold undeclared horse because of a wall of silence from the irish."

the horsemeat scandal lead to millions of burgers and ready meals being withdrawn from the supermarket shelves around eruope, but enforcement agencies say that where supply chain cross jurisdictions, they are not getting enough information. Industry victims report that their own efforts to find out where their meat was coming from are being frustrated beyond the immediate suppliers with whom they had legal contracts.

irish foof inspector - had found forzen horsemeant in beefburgers made by firms in the irish republic and the UK, and sold by a number of UK supermarker chains, including Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl.

mislabelle processed meat products have so far been discovered in the UK, the republic of Ireland, France, Norway, Austria, Switerzerland, Sweden and Germany. Suspicious products have also been withdrawn in the netherlands as tests are carried out.


Experts

experts say the scandal has highlighted the cimplexity of the food industry's supply chains across Europe.

in france, where seven supermarket chains have wqithdrawn all frozen beef meals made by Findus and Comigel, an initial investigation has found that horsemeat sold as beef orginated from Romanian slaughterhouses before being sold to a Dutch food trader, then on to a Cypriot trader and on again to a french firm.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21335872