Businessman jailed over horsemeat scandal

The businessman at the centre of a Europe-wide fraud in which falsely labelled horsemeat led to thousands of tonnes of meat being recalled has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

A Dutch court found that two meat wholesalers owned by Willy Selten had bought and processed a minimum of 330 tonnes of horsemeat in 2011 and 2012, selling it on to customers who believed they were buying pure beef.

“By selling largely to foreign buyers he contributed to a negative image of the Dutch beef industry, causing damage to the sector” for his own profit,” the court in Den Bosch said in its judgment yesterday.