U.K.: Recalled lasagna products contain 60 percent horsemeat

Frozen-food company Findus recalled beef lasagna meals after French supplier Comigel raised concerns that the products didn't "conform to specification." / AP

LONDON Some beef lasagna products recalled from British stores contained more than 60 percent horsemeat, U.K. food safety authorities said Thursday. It was the latest revelation in a growing scandal surrounding the use of horsemeat and the mislabeling of meat products in Europe.

Frozen-food company Findus recalled the beef lasagna meals earlier this week after French supplier Comigel raised concerns that the products didn't "conform to specification." The U.K. Food Standards Agency said the lasagnas were tested as part of an ongoing investigation into mislabeled meat.

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Already this month, millions of burgers have been taken off shop shelves as it emerged that beef products from three companies in Ireland and Britain contained horse DNA.

Eighteen beef lasagna products were tested by Findus, which found that 11 contained horsemeat in the 60 to 100 percent range, the Food Standards Agency said. It would not say if any of the meals were 100 percent horsemeat.

The agency said there's no evidence yet of a food safety risk, but added that tests have been ordered on the lasagna to see if it contains the veterinary drug phenylbutazone. Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain because it may pose a risk to human health, the agency added.

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People who had purchased the meals were advised not to eat them but to return the products to the shops they were bought from.

Eating horsemeat is not generally a health risk, but the recent incidents have triggered disgust in Britain and Ireland, where horsemeat is not traditionally eaten. They also have raised fears over food security and labeling along the supply chain.

The revelations have shaken Ireland in particular, because beef exports are a key industry. Irish government officials and an Irish meat company have blamed meat imported from Poland, but Polish authorities say they have found no evidence backing those claims.

Findus UK apologized to customers and said it was confident it has "full resolved" the supply-chain issue. "We understand this it is a very sensitive subject for consumers and we would like to reassure you we have reacted immediately," the company said.

Catherine Brown, chief executive of the U.K. Food Standards Agency, said that following its investigations into Findus, the agency is demanding more comprehensive meat testing from the food business "in order to demonstrate that the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label."

"We are demanding that food businesses conduct authenticity tests on all beef products, such as beef burgers, meatballs and lasagna, and provide the results to the FSA. The tests will be for the presence of significant levels of horsemeat," she said in a statement.

Comigel earlier this week had advised Findus -- and the store chain Aldi -- to remove frozen beef lasagna from store shelves. Supermarket chain Tesco also decided to withdraw its spaghetti bolognese, which was produced by Comigel.

[ICOULDNTDECIDE]

I am British and I think that people are more annoyed that they have been deceived by the stores than they are with the horse meat itself. You have companies claiming that their products contain "100% British Beef" when what you're actually getting is "60% Romanian Horse." It's horrible and the government claims that all food items intended for sale in Britain are checked at ports for quality assurance; they aren't doing a good job. I would also like to thank Tesco for giving me a refund on my Horse Burgers. Luckily i didn't eat them

[FormerUSMCSergeant]

WantsABetterWorld says:Eating horsemeat is repulsive.
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Not to me. I would want it labeled as such but there's nothing wrong with eating horse.
Horse meat contains 25% less fat, nearly 20% less sodium, double the iron and less cholesterol than high quality beef cuts, and when compared to ground beef 25% less fat, 30% less cholesterol and 27% less sodium.

[john92021]

just say nayhhhh.

[Transatlantique]

There is a simple solution to this. Avoid meat products.

[skeezix06]

One little problem. Vegetarian diets don't work for everyone. They really don't.

Chicken and turkey are easily identified as "not horse". I think I'll just stick to that.

[Charley Burford]

This is fairly harmless, but what else is going on that hasn't been detected? I've heard there are container loads of meat scraps being shipped into the USA. To make what? What kind of animals are they from? Imagine a meat scrap being shipped across the ocean in a container. Who knows what is in this mixture of scraps. It's only a matter of time, if it hasn't happened already, before human meat is included in this disgusting mixture of floating cadaver parts. Eating meat is a fairly disgusting thing at best if you really ponder it deeply, but to buy ground meat or pre-prepared products is asking for the nightmares that are surely happening and will continue to get worse.

[Charley Burford]

I stopped buying food products that are processed, prepared, ground, etc. I haven't trusted any segment of the food industry for 25 years. An endless series of these types of news stories have validated my concerns. To entrust the preparation and quality of ingredients to someone else is insane. It's not hard to prepare your own, and if you limit food to only what is good for you, it is inexpensive and easy to do.

[bobnjersey]

[Some beef lasagna products recalled from British stores contained more than 60 percent horsemeat ...]
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well ... they should also investigate how they're able to call it 'lasagne' when it has cheddar cheese in it.

[genxandy]

Consider it like having an 'exotic' meat. It's not harmful to consumer it, it's just hard to think you're having it.

[hypnotoad72]

Consider it lies and deception sold to the customer.

The fact the substituted meat is harmless does not change the lack of ethics, not in any way shape or form.

[VickeryEckhoff]

Horses are medicated like Lance Armstrong because they're athletes and cattle are medicated like animals raised to be steak and meat. As bad as the contaminants in beef are, they are more regulated and less dangerous than what's in horse meat.

How do you get racehorses to run when injured? Heavy duty pain killers, snake venom, not to mention vaccines, diuretics, steroids, bronchodialators that are part of the racehorse's regimen (and non-racehorses, too). FDA bans their use in cattle, pigs, etc. 100% of which go to slaughter. They do not in horses, only 1% of which do.

This is how drugs that explicitly state on the label, "CAUTION: Do not just on horses slaughtered for human consumption" that are given to nearly all horses in the US (and probably throughout Europe) end up entering the food supply.

People have blind faith in regulators. Perhaps after this blows over, they will trust them less.

[WantsABetterWorld]

Eating horsemeat is repulsive. But if you think about it, cows and horses aren't that different. Both graze in the fields and are similar. If it's wrong to eat one, it should be wrong to eat either.

[VickeryEckhoff]

Ethically, you may wish to think of them as being similar. But the slaughter business is less regulated for horses and more cruel.

Considering how cruel it is for cattle to many Americans who have given up meat, that says a lot.

Captive bolt was designed for cattle. Their brains are located farther forward in their skulls than horses. As short-necked ruminants, their response to stress is to lower their heads, allowing the captive bolt gun to do its work.

Horses are long-necked flight animals whose brains are positioned farther back in their skulls. In the kill box, they throw their heads around and scramble, their shoes slipping on the bloody floor. This is how a large percentage of them get shot repeatedly in the head and often come to while being vivisected.

So, captive bolt is crueler to horses.

Drugs in horses are more prevalent. Horses are medicated like Lance Armstrong because they're athletes and cattle are medicated like animals raised to be steak and meat. As bad as the contaminants in beef are, they are more regulated and less dangerous than what's in horse meat.

How do you get racehorses to run when injured? Heavy duty pain killers, snake venom, not to mention vaccines, diuretics, steroids, bronchodialators. FDA bans their use in cattle, 100% of which go to slaughter. They do not in horses, only 1% of which do.

Horses have nearly twice as much blood as cattle. In waste water treatment plants in TX and IL, the drugs in the blood disabled bacteria so that bloody effluents could not be fully treated.

Cattle blood, on the other hand, is sold to fertilizer companies. The fertilizer companies reject the horse blood: too toxic.

When fertilizer companies turn something down for being too toxic, it's worth paying attention.

[skeezix06]

It looks like I'll be eating chicken or turkey only from now on. Apparently beef is no longer safe.