Bulgaria awaits outcome of tests for horsemeat in lasagna
Bulgaria is awaiting the outcome of tests on 86kg of samples from lasagna confiscated from a supermarket chain on February 15 2013 to establish whether it contained horsemeat.
The samples had been sent for testing in a laboratory in Berlin, Germany, Agriculture and Food Minister Miroslav Naidenov said on February 16.
Earlier in the week, Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency said that tests on random samples of meat products in the country’s major retail chains had not found any traces of horsemeat.
The lasagna was taken from a chain that had received it from France after it was produced in Luxembourg. Naidenov said that it would be destroyed if it was found to be wrongly labelled.
Naidenov said that his ministry and the Food Safety Agency were in regular contact with European Union authorities and any suspicions of horsemeat in foodstuffs would be followed up immediately.
Like other EU officials, he reiterated that the issue was about misleading consumers and not that horsemeat was unfit for human consumption.
Naidenov said that he hoped that the system of food control would be discussed by Bulgaria’s Cabinet in the next 10 days with a view to any revisions necessary.
Of 2501 tests carried out on beef products in the UK across the industry by noon on February 15, 2472 found no horse meat content above one per cent, the UK Food Standards Agency said, as reported by CNN. The 29 positive tests involved seven products sold by five suppliers, according to the UK Food Standards Agency.
Reuters said on February 15 that more products had been removed from sale in Britain, Germany, Austria and Norway and police raided factories in several countries while Dutch prosecutors accused one meat supplier there of fraud.
Evidence seized from three UK premises as part of the horsemeat investigation has been handed to Europol, the BBC said on February 16.
(Photo: Eugene Z)
