EU’s rapid alert system reports Irish materials in contaminated beef

Irish materials were in three beef products found to contain horse, in the EU’s latest weekly Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

Horse DNA at 1-5% was found in frozen meatballs in Sweden containing raw materials from Ireland; at 2% in chili con carne in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which came from Belgium, with raw material from Ireland; and at 60-90% in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, in frozen meatballs from Sweden, with raw material from Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Poland.

Italian materials were in two processed meats found to contain horse — frozen lasagne bolognese for sale in Italy and the UK; and frozen cannelloni bolognese from France, manufactured in Italy, sold in France.

Horse DNA was found at 60-90% in frozen beef burgers from Poland, sold in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was found at 69% in corned beef from Latvia, sold in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Horse DNA was found at over 50% in lasagne bolognese from Hungary, sold in Denmark, and at 5-30% in lasagne bolognese from France, sold in Germany.

A pasta sauce bolognese from Austria, sold in Germany, had 3.5% of horse protein. In the same week, tortelloni carne from Liechtenstein, sold in Slovenia, was found to have horse DNA above 1%.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have raised questions about the reliability of EU exports following the reported discovery of horsemeat in sausages imported from Austria.

So far, the meat scandal has involved some 800-850 tonnes of horsemeat and 3,600 tonnes of prepared meat products being discarded.

According to legal sources, given the reports of clear evidence for mislabelling, and the significant losses incurred by companies, claims for damages are inevitable.

If a producer is found to have mislabelled meat, it may be liable to its customers for nonconformity of goods within the contract. Damages may be claimed for actual loss, the loss of current profits, plus loss of future profits and the loss of goodwill as a result of the mislabelling.

But European Commission sources have acknowledged that the cost to the EU’s reputation is “many multiples” of the actual cost of scrapped foods.