Current checkups certify Romanian slaughterhouses correctly make intra-Community trade

Romania has not received concrete data from the French authorities on the batches of horse meat that made the object of intra-Community exchanges with France, although the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) representatives have contacted the institutions in charge and have already initiated checkups in the two Romanian slaughterhouses suspected of fraud.

All pieces of information we have until present about the horse meat coming from Romania are only supplied by the press, as we have not received any official data from the French authorities, no data on the produce traceability, namely on transport, labeling or the number of meat batches. They do not work on Saturdays and Sundays. But we contacted the French veterinary authority and, based on the suspicions presented, we initiated checkups in the two slaughterhouses having intra-Community trades with horse meat. I still maintain, although we have not completed the investigation yet, that everything has left Romania correctly and in an official manner. I find it hard to believe that such errors could exist,' National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) Director Constantin Savu told Agerpres.

Until present all sources point to the fact that the units carried out correctly the intra-Community trades with France with horse meat and beef.

The Agriculture Minister announced they will send on Sunday data on the results of the checkups in the two slaughterhouses.

The British Food Safety Agency on Thursday announced they discovered that the Findus brand lasagna, which should have contained beef, in certain cases contained even 100 percent horse meat, and this product was made by Comigel French Company.

Comigel French Company CEO Erick Lehagre on Friday announced that the produce, namely the horse meat used in the lasagna as beef, came from a Romanian producer. Moreover, Findus Swedish Agri-Food Group on Saturday accused the lasagna meat supplier, Spanghero French Company, that it delivered horse meat from Romania labeled as «beef.»

Adapted from Agerpres