Czechia detects horse meat in food products labelled as beef

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Czech Republic has become the latest country to detect horse meat in food products labelled as beef in the widening European food labelling scandal, officials have said, according to Belfast Telegraph.

The discovery was made by the state-run Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority.

DNA tests detected horse meat in lasagne bolognese made by frozen food processor Tavola SA Comigel and sold at a Tesco store in the western city of Plzen, the agency said. Tesco was ordered to recall it, and tests continue.

In Romania, 220lb (100kg) of horse meat mislabelled as beef was found in Bucharest, the agriculture ministry said.

Ministry spokesman Achim Irimescu told national news agency Agerpres that the meat, had been correctly labelled at source.

There were no further details about where the meat was being sold.

Romania was at the origin of the horse meat scandal, with tons of horse meat from Romanian abattoirs exported to France, where it was processed into ready meals.

Romanian authorities said the meat had been correctly labelled as horse and the fraud had occurred further down the food supply chain.

Horse meat has turned up across Europe in frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and lasagne, in beef pasta sauce, on restaurant menus, in school lunches and in hospital meals.