Horsemeat scandal boss attacks French government

[Sakon Shima]

Horsemeat scandal boss attacks French government

By Jean Decotte and Anthony Deutsch
CASTELNAUDARY, France/AMSTERDAM | Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:01pm EST

(Reuters) - The president of French meat processor Spanghero promised on Friday to disprove allegations that his firm knowingly sold horsemeat labeled as beef, and accused the government of being too quick to point the finger.

In a widening scandal involving horsemeat in ready meals sold across Europe, Dutch inspectors began taking samples to discover whether shipments contained a drug given to some horses that is banned for animals intended for human consumption.

French Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon on Thursday released details of an investigation into Spanghero which he said indicated the firm was the likely culprit in a scandal that has enraged consumers across the continent and implicated traders and abattoirs from Cyprus to Romania.

"I don't know who is behind this, but I can tell you it's not us. I'm astonished," Spanghero boss Barthelemy Aguerre told Europe 1 radio. "I think we will prove our innocence and that of my associates. I think the government has been too quick."

The French inquiry found that Spanghero labeled meat as beef when it knew what it was processing may have been horse.

Hamon said Spanghero could not have failed to notice the meat it was importing was much cheaper than beef, and there was no indication that a Romanian firm supplying the meat had mislabeled what was in fact horse.

Outside Spanghero's factory - a red and white corrugated iron-clad building in the town of Castelnaudary near the southwestern city of Toulouse - workers were throwing carcasses, sausages and burgers into a dumper truck on Friday, although it was not immediately clear why they were doing so.

The privately owned firm, which was founded by brothers of 1970s French rugby captain Walter Spanghero, has had its operating license suspended and will face legal action if the suspicions are confirmed.

The Paris prosecutor is now reviewing the investigation.

DUTCH TESTS

In the Netherlands, health inspectors have begun taking samples at 100 meat companies to determine whether shipments of beef contained horse or the drug phenylbutazone, the Economic Affairs Ministry said.

Officials have stressed that horsemeat itself poses no specific health threat. However, the drug commonly known as bute - an anti-inflammatory painkiller for sporting horses - is banned for animals intended for eating by humans because it is potentially harmful.

Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) said six horses slaughtered in the UK that tested positive for the drug were exported to France and may have entered the human food chain.

Authorities in the northwestern English county of Lancashire said they were recalling pies from 47 local school kitchens after they provisionally tested positive for traces of horse DNA. "This does not appear to be a food safety issue but I've no doubt parents will agree we need to take a very firm line with suppliers," County Councilor Susie Charles said in a statement.

British food safety authorities were due to announce later on Friday the first preliminary test results of beef products for the presence of horsemeat.

"SCAPEGOATS FOR POLITICIANS"

Speaking on behalf of Spanghero's employees, Marketing Director Christophe Giry said the firm had cooperated with French investigators, who had reassured him the problem had not come from Spanghero.

An emotional Giry expressed concern about the livelihoods of company employees and their families. "As soon as our license was suspended, all our clients who had until then had complete trust in us, pulled their business. This verdict by Hamon and Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll has condemned to death 300 families as well as our partners," he said.

"We're being used as scapegoats for politicians and everybody," he added. "They needed to find a head."

Aguerre earlier said his company had analyzed the meat as soon as the scandal broke and discovered that some had been a mixture of beef and horsemeat. "It shows that Spanghero is not behind this deception. It comes from elsewhere," he said.

Hamon told Europe 1 radio that it was not up to him to say who was guilty, but added that it was clear something was not right at Spanghero.

"There are sufficient facts which show that at the very least there was a lot of negligence," he said. "Millions of consumers have been duped so we had to act quickly."

The scandal, which has triggered recalls of ready meals and damaged confidence in Europe's vast and complex food industry, erupted last month when tests carried out in Ireland revealed that some beef products also contained horsemeat.

Laurent Spanghero, who sold the company in 2009 when it was in trouble for a symbolic one euro, said that while his family was not responsible, everything had to be done to save jobs in the town of 11,500 where there were few other prospects.

"My first thought is for the employees. It's long-term unemployment that is coming if we are not capable in the next three days of resolving this," said the tearful septuagenarian, brother of Walter Spanghero.

"My second thought goes to our kids and grandchildren that carry our name. We have always taught them the values of courage and loyalty and today we have been plunged into dishonor," he said on television.

The British government and the European Union have called for a high-level meeting to investigate the scandal and it will be on the agenda of a February 25 EU farm ministers' meeting.

The European Commission has proposed increased DNA-testing of meat products to try to establish the scale of a scandal which has exposed just how many countries a portion of mince may have travelled through before ending up in frozen lasagne.

(Additional reporting and writing by John Irish; Editing by Jon Boyle and David Stamp)

 

[LiuKang]

Horsemeat blame game ricochets across Europe

Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:56pm EST

(Reuters) - Accusations, denials and threats to sue reverberated round Europe on Friday as meat traders, food processors, retailers and governments all rejected blame for horsemeat found in ever more beef dishes across the continent.

In France, wholesalers and officials traded grievances, while more products were removed from sale in Britain, Germany, Austria and Norway; police raided factories in several countries and Dutch prosecutors accused one meat supplier there of fraud.

No one is reported to have fallen ill from eating horse in the month since it was first identified in Irish beefburgers, but evidence of widespread mis-labeling and revelations of a complex market in which produce crisscrosses the EU trading bloc have damaged Europeans' confidence in the food on their plate.

Governments have come under pressure to act and to explain lapses in quality control, while supermarkets, fast-food chains and ready-meal manufacturers are battling to save reputations, some fighting for their very survival amid a welter of lurid headlines playing on a popular queasiness about eating horses.

A French meat company with a famous name accused by the government in Paris of knowingly passing off horsemeat as beef hit back angrily on Friday, accusing ministers of jumping to a hasty conclusion, as its workers feared for their livelihoods.

"This verdict arrived at by the ministers ... has condemned 300 families to death," said the Spanghero company's marketing director Christophe Giry, referring to its 300 employees.

"We're being used as scapegoats for politicians and everybody," he added. "They needed to find a head."

"The government has been too hasty," said company boss Barthelemy Aguerre, a day after ministers said it could not have failed to realize cheap meat from Romania was horse not beef.

"I think we will prove our innocence," he added.

Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon said: "At the very least there was a lot of negligence ... Millions of consumers have been duped, so we had to act quickly."

At Spanghero's factory - a red and white corrugated-iron-clad building in Castelnaudary, a town famed for its cuisine near the southern city of Toulouse - workers were throwing carcasses, sausages and burgers into a dumper truck on Friday.

The Spanghero family, a dynasty of French rugby players who founded the firm but sold it in 2009, bemoaned the loss of their good name: "We have been plunged into dishonor," said Laurent Spanghero, whose brother once captained the national rugby team.

The Romanian government and abattoirs that routinely slaughter horses have said their exports were properly labeled.

DUTCH RAID

Dutch prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into an as yet unnamed company believed to have been falsely labeling beef mixed with horsemeat after searching a plant in the south.

They said it was "suspected of forgery, fraud and money laundering" and added: "It is believed the company processed horse carcasses from Ireland and mixed them with beef."

In a separate development, a Dutch businessman who was convicted last year of selling falsely labeled horsemeat, denied suggestions of involvement in the latest scandal.

After a senior Romanian food safety official identified Jan Fasen's company Draap Trading as a buyer of horse meat from Romania, a lawyer for Fasen, who is based in Breda in the southern Netherlands said in a statement he denied all allegations, including of being a key figure in a fraud network.

He noted that Fasen was appealing against last year's conviction, which court documents show involved the sale of beef mixed with horse to two French companies.

Governments have highlighted that horsemeat poses little or no health risk - though some carcasses have been found tainted with a painkiller given to racehorses but banned for human consumption - and have said retailers are ultimately responsible for ensuring the products they sell are what they claim to be.

One supermarket chain, Kaiser's Tengelmann in Germany, said it plans to sue Comigel, a French supplier of frozen beef lasagne and other ready meals, for selling it horsemeat: "We feel cheated and deceived," Tengelmann boss Raimund Luig said.

"We will definitely file for damages."

German discount supermarket chain Lidl said it had taken beef tortelloni off its shelves after Austrian health authorities said they found horsemeat in one sample made by Liechtenstein-based Hilcona. The latter blamed its supplier.

Compass Group, the world's biggest caterer, and Whitbread, Britain's biggest hotel group, added to the list of firms withdrawing beef products found to contain horse.

DAMAGE CONTROL

Also in Britain, leading chain Tesco, one of the earliest casualties of horse-tainted beefburgers, highlighted a different approach to defending its reputation, telling customers they would be able to track the implementation of systems it is putting in place to ensure the origins of its food are clear.

British supermarket bosses signed an open letter to consumers telling them they "share their anger and outrage" at finding food safety "compromised by fraudulent activity or even, as alleged, an international criminal conspiracy".

That move came after Prime Minister David Cameron, himself under pressure from voters, appeared to chide the retailers.

Britain's Food Standards Agency, set up in 2001 after the "mad cow disease" scandal saw British beef banned by European neighbors, said on Friday that of 2,501 tests for horse DNA in samples of beef products from shops, 29 had shown traces above 1 percent.

Authorities in the northwestern English county of Lancashire said they were recalling pies from 47 local school kitchens after they provisionally tested positive for traces of horse DNA. "This does not appear to be a food safety issue, but I've no doubt parents will agree we need to take a very firm line with suppliers," County Councillor Susie Charles said in a statement.

EU governments approved an EU-wide program of DNA tests on beef products to assess the scale of a food scandal involving mislabeled horsemeat, the bloc's executive said on Friday.

The initial one-month testing plan will also check horsemeat for potentially harmful drug residues, after six horses slaughtered in Britain tested positive for the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone, which is illegal in meat for human consumption.

The British government and the European Union have called for a high-level meeting to investigate the scandal, and it will be on the agenda of a February 25 EU farm ministers' meeting.

(Additional reporting by other European bureaux; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Will Waterman)

 

[LiuKang]

British butchers enjoy sales boost after horsemeat furor

By Costas Pitas
LONDON | Fri Feb 15, 2013 3:56pm EST

(Reuters) - In one of Britain's oldest butcher's shops, staff in straw hats are rushing to cope with a surge in demand for pricey pies and sausages from customers worried about a scandal over mislabeled horsemeat and rich enough to buy peace of mind.

Founded in 1850, Lidgates in London's smart Notting Hill district retains a Dickensian atmosphere, displaying beef from grass-fed cows, organic chickens, and silver trophies won by its products.

The discovery of horsemeat in food labeled as beef has shocked the British, a nation of horse-lovers, and exposed a gap between rich shoppers who can afford top-quality meat and those forced to hunt for bargains at the other end of the market.

The current climate of economic austerity has squeezed family budgets, forcing many to choose cheap mass-produced foods containing often untraceable ingredients.

But Lidgates, where a whole beef fillet sells for more than 100 pounds ($160) and half a dozen sausages cost 6 pounds ($9), is a world away from these concerns.

"Sales on items such as minced beef, pies, sausages went up ranging 10 and 20 percent directly on day one," said Danny Lidgate, 33, the fifth generation of his family to run the shop.

The trend towards upmarket meat appears to be gathering pace elsewhere in Britain, where many people are so sentimental about horses that they find the idea of eating their meat repulsive.

According to the Q Guild, which represents high-end independent butchers, its members say sales of beefburgers and meatballs have risen by 30 per cent since the horsemeat furor started, with overall trade up by an average of 20 percent.

As the scandal deepened this week, the government played down the health risks, saying it was doing everything to ensure food sold across the country was safe enough to eat. Generally, horsemeat is not a danger to health, but the damage to public confidence has already been done.

RIB-EYE STEAK

Scrutinizing a cut of rib-eye steak, Jacqueline O'Leary, a housewife from the upscale Kensington district, said the revelations about horsemeat had changed her shopping habits.

"I haven't bought lately (from supermarkets). I've just been buying more here so they've probably seen me three times a week and I buy sausages and mince from here now, it's just easier."

Upstairs in Lidgates' busy kitchen, a butcher completes a cottage pie, the traditional British dish of minced meat covered in a layer of potato.

Selling for more than 5 pounds ($8) a portion, the fresh grass-fed or organic minced beef dish is rather more expensive than the alternative from frozen food giant Findus, available for just 1 pound from one supermarket.

After finding it beef lasagne contained horsemeat, the British unit of Findus began recalling the product from supermarket shelves last week on advice from its French supplier Comigel, raising questions over the complicated nature of the European food chain.

Elsewhere in London, Mark McCartney, another shopper, said he would rather go to his local butcher than buy meat at the supermarket.

"I trust this meat more than I trust anything out of the supermarkets and you can pick and choose and give this man the money." he said. "It's cheaper, it's better quality and it's better people getting the money."

The loss of trust in supermarkets and processed food may be temporary and will probably be restored gradually after the scandal.

But the trend is still a worry for Britain's food and farming industries, which contribute 88 billion pounds ($140 billion) to the economy every year.

Meat and meat products accounted for 1.7 billion pounds out of Britain's total food and drink exports of 18.2 billion pounds in 2011, according to farm minister Owen Paterson.

HORSEMEAT SCANDAL

Nearly half of British consumers said they would avoid buying meat from supermarkets affected by the horsemeat scandal, according to a survey this month for Retail Week magazine.

Family butchers may be experiencing a revival but it is likely to be short-lived given the attraction of supermarkets to busy shoppers.

In Britain, four supermarket chains together account for over three quarters of the grocery market, according to the Kantor research company.

Many family-run butchers have been hit hard in the past decade, with many blaming high parking charges in towns as well as increasingly time-poor customers.

The number of registered butcher's shops fell to around 6,800 in 2011 from more 9,000 in 2000, according to figures from the British tax authorities.

At a bustling London street market, butcher Raymond Roe said he had been in the trade for 37 years but at least eight of his local competitors had close their doors since 1976.

Even though shoppers are angry with supermarkets now, he was pessimistic about the future.

"They've lost their trust," he said. "I get a lot of people saying they're not going buy from them (supermarkets).

"But the thing is, supermarkets are convenient for everyone and most people haven't got much time. A lot of it is, people don't cook no more."

Pointing behind him on the wall to diagrams of animals with lines drawn to indicate cuts of meat, Roe described his role as butcher, teacher and chef for his customers.

"I show them the charts where the cuts come from to try and educate them because years ago, the older people - a lot of them are dead now - they knew the cuts but no one knows nothing now," he said sadly. "They don't even know how to cook."

($1 = 0.6433 British pounds)

(Editing by Maria Golovnina and Giles Elgood)