Horse Meat: European Commission Adopts Fraud Control Plan

The European Commission has adopted a Recommendation for an EU coordinated plan on controls to investigate fraudulent practices and to enhance consumer confidence following the recent mislabelling of beef products containing horse meat.

20 Feb 2013 --- The EU will grant financial support to Member States which carry out this plan at a rate of 75%. The controls are to start immediately, running for one month and may be extended for a further two months. The plan includes two actions:

Over the last days, official controls in some Member States revealed fraud in the marketing of foods. Certain foods contained horse meat that was not declared in the list of ingredients and their description referred solely to the presence of beef. The plan, foresees controls, mainly at retail level, of foods destined for the final consumer and marketed as containing beef, to detect the presence of unlabelled horse meat (indicative total number of 2250 samples across the EU ranging from 10 to 150 per Member State). Under current EU rules, it is considered misleading and in breach of legislation to suggest the presence of beef meat where, in fact, other types of meat are also present. In the same way, labelling of food containing horse meat is not in line with EU food labelling legislation, if the presence of horse meat is not listed in the ingredients.
 
The plan foresees the testing of 1 sample for every 50 tonnes of horse meat. A Member State will carry out a minimum of 5 tests. Phenylbutazone is a veterinary medicinal product whose use in food producing animals, including horses, is illegal. The plan provides for regular reporting of the results of the controls to the Commission, such as information on sampling, type of analysis and follow-up controls. For positive findings of residues in phenylbutazone in horse meat, information on the country where the animals concerned were certified for slaughter will also be included in the report. Member States have to submit their first report on 15 April 2013. If the testing proves positive however, Member States must report the findings immediately. All this information will be included in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) so that they can be immediately used by Member States' authorities.

Yesterday it emerged that Nestlé was removing pasta meals from store shelves in Italy and Spain. The company had increased testing after the discoveries of horse meat in British foods and “traces” of horse DNA in two products made with beef supplied by a German company, H. J. Schypke. Two refrigerated Nestlé pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, are being taken off supermarket shelves in Italy and Spain immediately. In addition, Lasagnes à la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen meat product made for caterers in France, will also be withdrawn and replaced with product made from 100 percent beef.

MEPs called for more meat tests along the food chain in the wake of the horsemeat scandal during a debate in the food safety committee on Monday. Many voiced concern over member states' level of commitment to enforcing the EU's existing rules on labelling and urged the European Commission to step up controls.

Most Members felt that the issue was one of labelling and traceability rather than food safety, although some highlighted concerns that horses could be treated with substances like the painkiller drug Phenilbutazone, which is banned from meat for human consumption.

"It is a vast fraud but we need to calm down on this," said Peter Liese (EPP, DE). "However," he added, "I understand that consumers don’t want to be fooled into eating something they don’t want.” His advice was to improve enforcement of the existing legislation, reinforce tests and introduce DNA testing.

 “What shocked most people was that after the BSE crisis the system was supposed to have brought in traceability,” said Linda McAvan (S&D, UK). She pointed out that rules on the labeling of meat products had been supported by the EP but then rejected by EU governments. Since then, “the system has failed. There have been several cases of fraud,” she said.

"On traceability, we have the most developed legislation in the world," said the European Commission's director-general for health and consumers, Paola Testori Coggi, adding “Fraud was detected and the meat was traced. The system worked. The Commission has proposed a plan for increased controls including DNA tests on meat."

“For many people, eating horse is unacceptable. Imagine if it were pork!” said Chris Davis (ALDE, UK). “Responsibility must rest with the food manufacturers. Where is the evidence that the checks have been carried out by the national authorities? Ideally, some effort should be made for common penalties at EU level," he added.

Carl Schlyter (Greens/EFA, SE) warned that “focusing on low prices increases the risk of fraud” and said meat-origin labelling would allow companies to build long-term links with their suppliers, thereby reducing the risk. Moreover, he believed, "the risk of penalties should be felt by the companies.” Ms Coggi replied that criminal sanctions were the responsibility of the member states and the EU could not legislate in this area.

"How do we stop people thinking of being dishonest and how do we sanction them?" asked Ana Rosbach (ECR, DK). “I’d like to know where my meat comes from,” she added, also calling for improved labelling. Kartika Tamara Liotard (GUE/NGL, NL) urged the Commission to be ”tough on member states that don’t apply the legislation," adding “we simply need to know what’s in our food.”

"Food safety is a competence of the EU, but the UK had higher standards before," said Paul Nuttall (EFD, UK). We’re not ensuring that food is safe and we're also labelling it incorrectly. (...) In this case the meat traveled to five different countries. It is almost impossible to police," he stressed, pleading for powers over food safety to be sent back to the member states.

It comes as the Food Standards Agency has expanded its UK-wide survey of food authenticity in processed meat products being carried out through local authorities.

The survey, expanded to ensure that a wider range of products are sampled, will include a total of 514 products.

The sampling for the first two phases will be carried out by 28 local authorities and will include beef-based foods that are sold pre-packed, or 'loose' (for example, cafe sandwiches).

Sampling for the third phase will be allocated to other local authorities across the UK.