French: Complex trading web in horse meat scandal

[February 11, 2013]  PARIS (AP) -- A maze of trading between meat wholesalers has made it increasingly difficult to trace the origins of food -- enabling horse meat disguised as beef to be sold in frozen meals across Europe. France's agricultural minister said Monday that regulators must find a way "out of the fog."

The European horse meat scandal -- where the cheaper meat was substituted for beef in everything from burgers to frozen lasagna -- is growing, involving more countries, companies and more finger-pointing by the day.

France says Romanian butchers and Dutch and Cypriot traders were part of a supply chain that resulted in horse meat being labeled as beef before it was included in frozen dinners including lasagna, moussaka and a similar French dish called hachis parmentier.

Swedish officials were meeting Monday with executives from the biggest supermarket chains to get an overview of how widespread the fraud is, while in Paris top French government officials and meat producers were gathering to get a handle on the crisis, which has snared a French food processing company.

Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said the results of the French investigation into the horse meat fraud would be released Wednesday.

No one has reported health risks from the mislabeled meat, which came from a complex supply chain. But clearly some company in the food chain benefited from selling the much cheaper horse meat as beef.

"There are people who are out there to defraud, who are looking to cheat," Le Foll told RTL radio.

Michel Barnier, a former French agricultural minister who now works at the European Union level, said it was not an issue of food safety but of justice.

"Consumers have the right to the truth, quality, and transparence. We have to do more in tracking," he told Europe 1 radio.

Findus Sweden plans to sue France's Comigel for breach of contract and fraud, Findus Nordic CEO Jari Latvanen said. He said the company's deal with Comigel stipulates that the beef in the frozen lasagna should come from Germany, France or Austria, but that has not been the case.

While horse meat is largely taboo in Britain and some other countries, in France it is sold in specialty butcher shops and is prized by some connoisseurs. French authorities, however, are worried about producers misleading the public.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has urged "tough punishments" for what he described as "abominable" fraud.

[Associated Press; By LORI HINNANT]

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