Dutch supermarkets are now the latest in Europe to remove frozen meals from their shelves amid fears they may contain horsemeat mislabeled as beef. Meanwhile, Romanian authorities have denied mislabeling horsemeat sold to a Dutch trading company.
"Plus supermarkets have withdrawn frozen lasagna of the Primafrost brand from shelves as a precaution," spokeswoman Debbie Huisman told Agence France Presse. She said the withdrawn products were not dangerous but could contain horsemeat without it being marked on the packaging.
Boni supermarkets have also withdrawn the same product, said Roel Vincken, spokesman for the Dutch Food and Goods Authority (NVWA).
"This is a decision that the supermarkets are taking themselves, we have to wait for the results of the enquiry to take official decisions," he told the French news agency.
The NVWA opened a probe Feb. 11 to see whether any beef products stocked on shelves contain horsemeat as the frozen food scandal spreads across Europe. French food safety authorities had already said they had traced the mislabeled "beef" to two slaughterhouses in Romania, which sold it to a Dutch trading company, which in turn sold it to a Cypriot company, which sold it to French meat company Sphangero, which sold it to Comigel the French company that ended up using it in beef lasagna and other beef products sold to Findus and various retailers.
As of mid-day Feb. 12, the Dutch and Cypriot middlemen hadn't been identified by the French.
But Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta angrily denied his country was to blame. "Romania cannot accept to be the usual suspect," he said. "We have made verifications. There exists no violation of European rules and standards" by the two abattoirs, he said, while his agriculture
minister insisted there had been no false labeling of meat.
