The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has completed its third round of testing food for horse DNA and found four additional products that are tainted. That brings the total number of products tainted to 17. All of these contaminated products, sold throughout the United Kingdom, have been withdrawn from the market. The products added to the recall are: Bird's Eye Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese, Bird's Eye Beef lasagne, Brakes spicy minced beef skewer and Taco Bell ground beef. So far, the agency has received results of 5,430 tests. Over 99 percent of them have shown no trace of horse DNA. None of the products containing horse meat have tested positive for traces of the veterinary medicine phenylbutazone (bute) which would be harmful to humans if ingested. The FSA advises consumers to … [Read more...]
Arrests Made in Horse Meat Scandal
The Food Standards Agency in the UK announced last week that three people were arrested by Dyfed-Powys Police on suspicion of fraud as a result of the investigation into the use of horse meat in the human food chain. FSA officers also investigated three facilities in England with local authorities and the police. One was in Hull and two were in Tottenham. Computers and "documentary evidence" were removed from those facilities along with meat samples that were to be tested. Europol has been informed and is analyzing information in 35 countries about the scandal. The arrests were made at Farmbox Meats near Aberystywth in Wales and at the Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. The men arrested were 64, 42, and 63 years old, respectively. Approvals for both of those … [Read more...]
EU Will Test All Beef for Horse Meat
EU Health Commissioners Tonio Borg announced last week that meat products throughout Europe will undergo DNA testing to see if they contain horse meat. He said, "the tests will be on DNA in meat products in all member states." The horse meat scandal erupted in January 2013 after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found horse DNA in some beef burger, salami, and beef meal products. Horse meat was also found in Findus lasagane sold in the UK. The findings increased concerns about labeling of food and security of Europe's food system; but there is another problem. Some of the horse meat may contain the harmful drug phenylbutazone, commonly known as "bute", that is given to race horses. That drug is not approved for human consumption. Bute can cause aplastic anemia, but the amounts in … [Read more...]
