Animals & Farming

Tests show horsemeat in 5% of processed meat

Picture of a burger for Your Expert witness storyTesting of randomly selected processed beef products by food standards experts from around the European Union found that just less than 5% contained horsemeat, according to a report published on 16 April by the European Commission.

"Today's findings have confirmed that this is a matter of food fraud and not of food safety," said Commissioner for Health and Consumers Tonio Borg. "Restoring the trust and confidence of European consumers and trading partners in our food chain following this fraudulent labelling scandal is now of vital importance for the European economy given that the food sector is the largest single economic sector in the EU.

"In the coming months, the Commission will propose to strengthen the controls along the food chain in line with lessons learned."
The same testing process found around 0.5% of horse carcasses contained traces of the painkiller phenylbutazone – or bute – which indicates the presence of horsemeat.

The publication of the report came a day after a joint statement by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which said that the risks associated with the presence of the drug bute were of "low concern for consumers due to the low likelihood of exposure and the overall low likelihood of toxic effects".

The report stated that, on a given day, the probability of a consumer being both susceptible to developing aplastic anaemia and being exposed to phenylbutazone was estimated to range from two in one trillion to one in 100 million.

British Labour MEP Glenis Willmott was quoted as saying: We urgently need to put EU rules in place on 'country of origin' labelling for meat in processed foods. It is only this kind of regulation that will force manufacturers to get a grip on their supply chain. It is shocking to see how widespread the horsemeat scandal is."

Humane Society International was, however, less than impressed with the results of the tests, describing them as "incomplete".

Its European Union Director Dr Joanna Swabe said in a statement: "Testing for just one of the many drugs banned for use in animals that enter the food chain falls short of a precautionary and thorough approach to addressing fraud and ensuring food safety standards are met. It isn't just phenylbutazone in horsemeat that poses a potential risk to human health. The European Commission has failed to seek tests for a whole host of other banned veterinary drugs, which are commonly administered to horses, and is thereby failing the public by allowing meat from these animals to be sold in the European Union in contravention of its own food safety and consumer protection regulations."