Editorial: Will Horse Meat Crisis Hit Global Beef Markets?

Countries across the European Union have started testing further processed beef products for the presence of horse meat as the scandal took on a global perspective this week.

In Brazil, the Association of Beef Exports has warned that the implications of the mislabelling and the contamination of products with horse meat could be far reaching.

Fernando Sampaio the executive director of Abiec, warned that although the fraud in the sale of frozen horse meat might appear to be an internal problem for Europe, the consequences could be much broader.

"A scandal like this, regardless of the type of meat, affects consumption in general. People get suspicious with meat consumption and low enough," he said.

"It affects the image of the sector and a reduction in consumption happens naturally."

While, food safety authorities in Europe started testing products, in France, one of the processors involved in the scandal, Spanghero, had been allowed by the French government to restart limited production, while further investigation is being carried out.

European countries are sampling 2250 products across the EU ranging from 10 to 150 per Member State.

In the UK, where the crisis first started, the Food Standards Agency expanded the testing programme to include a wider range of products.

The survey will include a total of 514 peoducts in the UK alone.

The sampling is being carried out in three phases.

A total of 224 samples of raw comminuted (minced) beef products including burgers, minced beef, beef sausage or meat balls are being checked for horse and pork DNA.

The a further 140 samples of beef-based ready meals including frozen, chilled or canned lasagne, chilli con carne, cottage pie, ravioli, cannelloni and spaghetti bolognese checked for horse and pork DNA.

Finally, 150 samples will be taken as part of the European Commission survey (official control programme) and checked for horse DNA. These include products marketed or labelled as containing beef as a major ingredient such as minced meat, meat products and meat preparations (such as kebabs with seasoning). Products such as gelatine, beef dripping, stock cubes, steak, stewing steak and ready meals, which contain beef that is not minced, are included.

This final phase will start on 25 February.

Meanwhile, higher cattle prices are expected to continue in the UK and around the world through 2013.

Although they will be easing a little, the trend is to continue to rise but not as steeply as they had in 2011 senior analysts at AHDB/EBLEX Market Intelligence Debbie Butcher told the Outlook 2013 conference in London.

The rise in prices in the UK came on the back of lower slaughterings and a tight supply in cattle that continued throughout 2012.