London: Britain’s school children and hospital patients may have been unknowingly eating horse meat for the past six months.
UK’s Food and Safety Authority (FSA) also fear that the horse meat being consumed across Europe contained veterinary drug phenylbutazone or bute, which is banned from entering the food chain.
Bute can cause blood disorder and aplastic anaemia in humans and was banned from use in humans after it was found that about 1 person in 30,000 recipients suffered a serious side effect.
Shocking details coming out in what in one of UK’s worst food scandals in recent years, some brands of frozen beef products, being sold in London’s leading supermarket chains have tested for atleast 30% and in some cases 100% equine meet.
10 Downing Street called an emergency meeting on Friday night with FSA ordering all food companies to test their beef products and provide results by February 15.
Environment secretary Owen Paterson said on Friday, “It’s totally unacceptable that people have been sold
something that is not what they think it is. Evidence from investigations across Europe so far suggests that it’s either criminal activity or gross negligence”.
Paterson said, “I want to be absolutely certain that they’re confident about where their meat comes from and that it is what they say it is. As soon as there was any suggestion of horse meat in the food chain, the FSA told food suppliers to conduct urgent checks. As a result, findus on Friday notified the FSA that significant quantities of horse meat had been found in its frozen beef lasagnes.”
He added, “In addition, the FSA has ordered food businesses to test all their processed beef products and is conducting its own survey of beef products, including those supplied to schools and hospitals.”
UK has found that frozen burgers from Tesco and the lasagne from Findus which had high quantities off horse meat were from suppliers in Ireland and France. Paterson said “about 92,000 food safety and food authenticity tests are carried out by the FSA every year. Clearly there are some who believe they can get away with selling cheap meat. Our investigations will find them and they will feel the full force of the law”.
UK’s Food and Safety Authority (FSA) also fear that the horse meat being consumed across Europe contained veterinary drug phenylbutazone or bute, which is banned from entering the food chain.
Bute can cause blood disorder and aplastic anaemia in humans and was banned from use in humans after it was found that about 1 person in 30,000 recipients suffered a serious side effect.
Shocking details coming out in what in one of UK’s worst food scandals in recent years, some brands of frozen beef products, being sold in London’s leading supermarket chains have tested for atleast 30% and in some cases 100% equine meet.
10 Downing Street called an emergency meeting on Friday night with FSA ordering all food companies to test their beef products and provide results by February 15.
Environment secretary Owen Paterson said on Friday, “It’s totally unacceptable that people have been sold
something that is not what they think it is. Evidence from investigations across Europe so far suggests that it’s either criminal activity or gross negligence”.
Paterson said, “I want to be absolutely certain that they’re confident about where their meat comes from and that it is what they say it is. As soon as there was any suggestion of horse meat in the food chain, the FSA told food suppliers to conduct urgent checks. As a result, findus on Friday notified the FSA that significant quantities of horse meat had been found in its frozen beef lasagnes.”
He added, “In addition, the FSA has ordered food businesses to test all their processed beef products and is conducting its own survey of beef products, including those supplied to schools and hospitals.”
UK has found that frozen burgers from Tesco and the lasagne from Findus which had high quantities off horse meat were from suppliers in Ireland and France. Paterson said “about 92,000 food safety and food authenticity tests are carried out by the FSA every year. Clearly there are some who believe they can get away with selling cheap meat. Our investigations will find them and they will feel the full force of the law”.
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