Call for Prosecutions over Horse Meat Contamination

The scandal of the contamination of beef products in the UK, Ireland and across Europe earlier this year came to the fore again this week as the Food Standards Agency in the UK produced its final summary of events only for a group of British MPs question why no-one had yet been brought before the courts.

While in the Netherlands, the owner of the wholesale plant has been charged with offences connected to the sale of horse meat as beef and the changing of labels on products, no action has been brought in the UK or Ireland.

But the British Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee produced a report expressing its dismay at the slow pace of investigations and it called on the authorities to bring prosecutions where there was evidence of fraud or illegal activities.

“The horsemeat contamination has been a result of fraud and other criminal activity across the EU. While overall contamination of beef products has been small, it has been widespread across EU Member States, and caused much public concern,” the committee reported.

“The evidence we received from retailers and food processors in the UK and Ireland suggests a complex, highly organised network of companies trading in and mislabelling frozen and processed meat or meat products in a way that fails to meet specifications and that is fraudulent and illegal.

“We are concerned at the failure of authorities in both the UK and Ireland to acknowledge the extent of this and to bring prosecutions.

“We are dismayed at the slow pace of investigations and would like assurance that prosecutions will be mounted where there is evidence of fraud or other illegal activity.”

The committee also called for a tightening up of controls to ensure that deliberate adulteration of products cannot occur again and also stringer policing powers for the Food Standards Agency to take action against rogue traders.

In Poland, this week, the government and the ministry of agriculture found themselves defeated over moves to allow religious slaughter of animals without stunning.

While the government was seeking to implement practices that have been adopted in 22 of the 28 EU countries, opponents of slaughter without stunning won the day.

However, the ministry of agriculture has now warned that the move could put the country at a disadvantage as it will be unable to supply meat to Islamic countries and it could cost the meat and agricultural industries in Poland thousands of jobs.

In the US last week, questions were raised in the Senate over the takeover of Smithfield Foods by the Chinese processor Shuanghui.

Concerns were raised that the deal could have long-term implications on the US workforce, pork producers and farmers.

Concerns were also raised that Shuanghui was paying a premium for the Smithfield and that there could also be implications to other processors who might not be able to compete because of the potential for Chinese government support for the enlarged company.

However, the deal has started to attract international backing from a number of banks and it is also rumoured that if the deal goes through the new company could be floated on the Hong Kong exchange.