Netherlands retracts 11 tons of horsemeat
Print Edition
Dutch authorities said yesterday they had recalled 11 tons of horsemeat that was trafficked from France last year.
The meat was correctly labelled as horse but was unfit for human consumption as some of it came from animals used by scientists to help produce anti-rabies and other serums.
Police in December made a score of arrests in southern France following a tip-off that 200 horses, including 60 owned by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, had ended up in abattoirs after their veterinary certificates had been falsified.
Around 11 tons of horsemeat that could contain the suspect meat were delivered to five Dutch companies between January and October 2013, the NVWA food safety authority said in a statement.
The meat was then sold on to restaurants as horsemeat, but also turned into pet food, the NVWA said.
“Of the 11,000 kilos, we have found around 1,000 kilos,” NVWA spokesman Brenno Bruggink said. “It’s almost 100 percent certain the rest has been eaten.”
Dutch junior public health minister, Sharon Dijksma, said in a letter to parliament that the risk to public health was “very limited or non-existant” because the animals were slaughtered in EU-approved abattoirs.
The case follows a Europe-wide health scare last year when horsemeat was found in millions of ready meals labelled as containing only beef.
Sanofi said the horses were used to provide blood for the manufacture of serums against tetanus and rabies and stressed they had not been used for drugs testing.
Eating horsemeat is regarded as taboo in some European countries.
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