Many French retail chains have announced that they have withdrawn products from Findus and Comigel from their shelves due to the possibility that they contain horse meat along with beef, distributors have reported.
Retail chains Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Cora, Monoprix, and Chez Picard have pulled suspicious products from the market, announced the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD), which brings together a large number of French retail chains. These include lasagnas, cannelloni, meat spaghetti, and moussaka.
The scandal erupted a few days ago when the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) announced that more than 60 percent horse meat was found in lasagnas produced by the British company Findus. Findus tested 18 samples of lasagna produced by the French company Comigel, and in eleven of them, between 60 and 100 percent horse meat was detected, the FSA reported.
French Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon stated to the newspaper Le Parisien that further withdrawals are expected as Comigel, which produces these dishes, supplies multiple distributors.
Although this meat does not pose a risk, the discovery has shocked the public in Great Britain, prompting distributors to urgently withdraw 10 million frozen hamburgers from sale.
According to initial information, the horse meat originates from Romania and was delivered to the company Spanghero with incorrect labeling. Spanghero supplied Comigel, which produced dishes for Findus. Findus has announced plans to file a lawsuit, and the Romanian government has also opened an investigation.
