Nestle withdraws beef pasta meals with horsemeat

http://hendrengroup.biz/blog/2013/03/07/nestle-withdraws-beef-pasta-meals-with-horsemeat/

Horse DNA found in beef pasta meals in Italy and Spain, due to this Nestle, the world’s biggest food company removed it at once it the shelves of respective countries. The deliveries from a German supplier was stopped it process by the Swiss-based firm. Traces of horsemeat in beef meals was long been an issue and Nestle was not the first in a string of major food producers to discover it. Levels of horse DNA were very low but above 1%, said by the spokesman for the company. On the previous week the firm said its products did not contain horsemeat. Two chilled pasta products naming Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini were pulled out by Nestle in Italy and Spain. A frozen product for catering businesses produced in France named Lasagnes a la Bolognaise Gourmandes will also be withdrawn. A spokesman for the company said that Nestle had identified a problem with a supplier from Germany.Nestle stated on their website that the supplier was identified, he is HJ Schypke, a sub-contractor of JBS Toledo, a major meat processing company based in Belgium.

“There is no food safety issue, but the mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us,” the statement said. In addition to removing the three affected products from sale, Nestle would be “enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe”, it added. According to BBC’s Imogen Foulkes in Geneva, the news that the world’s biggest food producer is now having to withdraw some foods, shows the problem is far wider than previously thought and, critics say, how dangerously unregulated the food industry has become. At least 12 European countries were affected by the widening scandal over mislabeled horsemeat. This includes Switzerland, where on Monday forced to remove nine different products from its shelves. Switzerland is famous for its broad range of organic, locally-sourced food. The company stated last Wednesday that it had found horsemeat in its own-brand frozen lasagne produced by the Comigel food processing company in France. Co-op now faces probable charges of negligence from the Swiss authorities. While other meat processing firm was also being affected as France partially lifted a production ban from Spanghero. The French government abrogated its license last week over uncertainties that Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labeled as beef, an accusation the company discards. Unwitting workers should not be penalized, said The French authorities. Thus the firm will be permitted to produce minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals, but not to stock frozen meat. For the moment the UK and Germany have also both promised to step up testing of frozen food products.