Romania implicated in international horse meat scandal

Romanian meat suppliers have been implicated in the scandal surrounding the export of horse meat to some 16 EU countries, Romanian news website Romania-Insider.com, reported February 11.

“Over the weekend, attention has focused on Romania as the potential source of contamination, while after the UK, products labeled as beef have been found to contain horse meat in France too,” Romania-Insider wrote.

The scandal erupted when UK based ready meals supplier Findus found that some of its beef products actually contained horse meat. The company indicated French food concern Comigel as its supplier of the meat in question. In turn, Comigel blamed French company Spanghelo, which claimed to have gotten the meat from Romanian traders.

Romanian PM Victor Ponta announced that Romania refuses to be treated as a scapegoat in this case.

“He [the Romanian PM] said that Romanian abattoirs met EU standards and that there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the local meat industry,” Romania-Insider.com reported.

Moreover, of the two Romanian companies implicated in the scandal, one announced that it had not exported any beef in 2012 and that it had not even signed any contracts with Comigel or Spanghelo.