A ban on racehorses entering the human food chain has been both welcomed and questioned, as the industry seeks to avoid unintended consequences in a well-intentioned move.

All horses entered to run in any race in Britain must be signed out of the human food chain, via their passports, by 1 January 2022. This will also exclude horses from entering the animal food chain in Britain, which is regulated to the same standard.

The rule applies to all horses trained in Britain, and connected technology means entries will not be possible if the horse is not signed out on the Weatherbys ePassport.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is also looking at how it can practically apply the rule to international runners, which is more complex. This is because of EU legislation covering who has the authority to sign horses out of the food chain – plus how and when this is done – along with variations in equine passports from country to country.

But the industry has been warned that it “will not make a blind bit of difference” without up-to-scratch traceability and enforcement.

“This rule change is yet another reminder of the importance of the UK implementing a digital-first equine ID system with full traceability and intelligence-led enforcement, and racing undertaking robust due diligence on racehorse aftercare along its entire supply chain,” World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers told H&H.

“Unless this happens, signing every racehorse out of the food chain will not make a blind bit of difference to whether they will wind up in slaughterhouses as they will be at the same risk as any other horse from unscrupulous players in the horse meat trade.”

Mr Owers added that without a legal outlet in the UK, former racehorses could be at greater risk of being exported abroad for slaughter, and of being sent to an illegal, unlicensed slaughterhouse.

“So this new rule will mean that it is more important than ever for racing to keep a close eye on what happens to horses once they leave the racetrack and consider how, as a sector, they can ensure welfare is protected at end of life,” he said.

“Horse meat is a valuable commodity, and where there is money to be made, there are those who will find a way to make it – and animal welfare will not be a consideration.

“The scale of this fraudulent trade is impossible to quantify as it takes place under the radar, and the current regime of equine ID and enforcement is simply unable to tackle it. This is what needs to change if we want to truly protect all horses, including former racehorses.”

BHA director of equine health and welfare James Given told H&H the new rule is “very much just one step on a much broader journey”.

“[This journey] was instigated through the publication of the Horse Welfare Board’s strategy for welfare in racing, “A Life Well Lived”, which includes improved traceability, a recent funding review, greater clarity of roles and responsibilities when it comes to aftercare and much more, alongside a focus on safety, quality of life and public trust,” he said.

The timing of the announcement is pertinent. While there has been much discussion in the wake of the Panorama documentary, aired on 19 July, the decision to permanently exclude racehorses from the human food chain was agreed unanimously by the BHA’s cross-industry veterinary committee on 28 January. This was then put out to wider industry consultation and approval by the rules committee and BHA board in September.

The announcement came a week after the publication of the “moving animals across borders” report by Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee put pressure on Defra to tackle equine welfare and traceability issues across the whole horse industry (news, 7 October). This included highlighting the need to move to a digital identification system, which exists in the thoroughbred industry, in order to prevent equine ID fraud and horse smuggling.

“The introduction of laws and regulations to protect animal welfare is important but ultimately meaningless if they are not enforced,” stated the report. H&H has contacted Defra for a response.

A euthanasia code of practice for the thoroughbred industry was also published last winter, to help people make the best end-of-life decisions for a horse when the time comes. The new rule ties in with those guidelines. It seeks to prevent horses being sent for slaughter in exchange for money for their meat, rather than preventing abattoirs from ever being an end-of-life option when considering a horse’s welfare.

“British racing has in place a euthanasia code of practice to aid trainers and owners with end-of-life decisions. The guidance is clear that whenever possible, euthanasia should be performed at home or in suitable surroundings,” added Mr Given.

“The transporting of horses to an abattoir to be sold for consumption should not, in my view, be classed as euthanasia and is not an approach that we should tolerate in our sport, which is why a rule preventing this practice is a positive step. I am confident that most British trainers and owners agree with me on this and already observe this principle.”

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World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers has warned that trafficking of horses with forged documents is only “the tip of the iceberg”, with the activity also linked to other illicit trades. H&H finds out more...

A Europol investigation that found competition horses with forged passports are making their way into the food chain has only uncovered “the tip of the iceberg”.

The six-month Opson IX operation, targeting slaughterhouses in Ireland, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, found some 20% of foreign horse passports showed signs of forgery. The investigation led to both live horses and more than 17 tonnes of horsemeat being seized.

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers told H&H the findings came as “no surprise”, as there is a “huge” black market in forged equine passports.

“We have seen empty lorries returning to the UK from Europe with horse passports and cash on board – it’s no great leap to imagine those passports making the journey multiple times with different horses,” he said.

“A slack equine identification system allows horses to be traded like commodities in a murky underground world. Many of these horses will be retired sports and pleasure horses at the end of their careers, but there is little doubt some will be stolen animals.”

The majority of competition, leisure and racehorse owners sign their horses out of the food chain to allow vets to administer a full range of drug treatments, as horses destined for slaughter cannot be treated with common medications such as phenylbutazone (bute). It is demand for horsemeat in Europe, combined with the “chronic shortage” of meat declared safe for consumption, that is thought to drive this illegal trade.

But Mr Owers said the trafficking of horses with forged documents is only “the tip of the iceberg”, with the activity also linked to other illicit trades. Lorries with livestock are less likely to be searched as rules discourage their being held at border crossings, meaning criminals can take advantage – there is anecdotal evidence that horse urine masks the smell of narcotics against sniffer dogs, he added.

The Opson IX operation, a follow-on from previous efforts to target the trafficking of counterfeit and sub- standard food and drink, was co-ordinated between Europol’s intellectual property crime coordinated coalition and Interpol.

Despite interruption from the Covid-19 pandemic, enforcement authorities from participating countries were able to go ahead with checks of documents from more than 157,000 horses from eight countries, as well as inspecting around 117 tonnes of horsemeat.

Europol executive director Catherine De Bolle said: “In times of crisis, criminals always look for new ways to abuse consumers and increase their illegal profit to the harm of public safety.

“Counterfeit and substandard food is not only deceitful to consumers but can also pose a significant threat to their health.”

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The trial of four people accused of being behind the 2013 European horsemeat scandal has opened in Paris.

 Irish authorities were the first to uncover horsemeat fraudulently passed off as beef during tests of frozen burgers in December 2012.

 A wider investigation found undeclared horsemeat in burgers and ready meals on sale in supermakets across the UK, including Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl, as well as throughout Europe.

 The investigation traced the source of the meat back to French company Spanghero, which had bought it from a Romanian abattoir through suppliers in the Netherlands and Cyprus.

 Prosecutors in the trial allege Spanghero was aware it was buying cheap horsemeat and that it then changed package labelling to more expensive beef.

 Former Spanghero director Jacques Poujol and ex-plant manager Patrice Monguillon are accused of selling more than 538 tonnes of horsemeat passed off as beef to Tavola, a subsidiary of Comigel — which manufactured ready meals — with the complicity of Dutch meat traders Hendricus Windmeijer and Johannes Fasen. 

Mr Poujol’s lawyer says his client did not know he was being sold horsemeat, but the defence for Johannes Fasen, who is on trial with fellow trader Hendricus Windmeijer, argues he was openly selling horsemeat. Formal pleas were not clear at time of writing.

Spanghero also used 200 tonnes of horsemeat itself in its beef merguez sausages.

 Reuters reported that a lawyer for Poujol told them the ex-Spanghero director did not know he was being sold horsemeat — an argument contested by his co-defendant Johannes Fasen, a Dutch food trader and executive at Cyprus-based Draap Trading.

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 “My client sold the horse meat to Mr Poujol because he ordered horse meat. He sold the horse meat to Poujol at horse meat price and Spanghero sold it on as beef at 1.50 euros a kilo more. So who profits from this crime,” Fasen’s lawyer is reported as having said.

 The trial is expected to run until mid-February with the four men facing up to 10 years in jail and a fine of €1m (£900,000). 

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Two businessmen have been sentenced to years in prison for passing off horsemeat as beef.

Microchips of three horses were found in meat which was being passed off as beef for human consumption.

Andronicos Sideras, owner of Dinos and Sons Ltd, conspired with Ulrich Nielsen and Alex Ostler-Beech, of Flexi Foods, to sell horsemeat as beef over a 10-month period in 2012.

On a number of occasions Sideras, 55, of Southgate, London, mixed consignments of beef with horsemeat, repackaged the meat and attached false labels, which claimed it originated from a Polish beef supplier.

This enabled him to inflate his profits, as horsemeat was cheaper to buy than beef.

He had denied one count of conspiracy to defraud but was convicted on 26 July after a three-week trial at Inner London Crown Court.

Nielsen, 58, of Gentofte in Denmark, and Ostler-Beech, 44, of Sutton on Hull, had previously pleaded guilty to the same offence and the trio were sentenced at the court on Monday (31 July).

Sideras was jailed for four years and six months and Nielsen for three years and six months, while Ostler-Beech was given an 18-month suspended sentence and a 120 hour-community service order.

“These men, motivated by greed, knowingly sold horsemeat to manufacturers so they could increase their profits,” said Nina Montalbano from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after Sideras’ conviction.

“Faced with the evidence put forward by the CPS, Nielsen and Ostler-Beech pleaded guilty, whereas Sideras was convicted by a jury.

“All three defendants knew full well this meat would enter the food chain through a number of leading supermarkets but continued their fraud with blatant disregard for the public’s right to know what is in their food.”

In 2013, the Food Standards Agency asked the City of London Police to start an investigation, which centred around Flexi Foods.

The company, owned by Denmark-based Nielsen, has UK offices in Hull and Oster-Beech was the UK representative.

It passed meat through Sideras’ Tottenham-based food supply and sausage manufacturing company Dinos and Sons.

During searches of the Flexi Foods Hull and Denmark offices, emails and other documents were uncovered detailing the conspiracy to deliberately introduce horsemeat into the food chain to increase company profits. Other evidence was seized at Dinos and Sons’ premises in London.

Oster-Beech was arrested at the Hull offices in July 2013 and Nielsen was detained in Denmark before being interviewed by police in the UK.

In the same month, Sideras was also arrested.

His fingerprints were later found on pallet labels attached to a consignment of mixed horsemeat and beef detained in Northern Ireland.

These labels were deliberately changed so anyone checking it would think it was 100% beef. However tests showed it was around 30% horsemeat.

Other loads had replicated this mixing pattern between July and November 2012.

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An environmental health officer visited a meat manufacturer in Newry, Northern Island, in 2012 and on examining 12 pallets of meat found two contained horsemeat.

Microchips from two Polish horses and one Irish horse were also found in the meat, which was found to have been sold by Flexi Foods and its labels altered at Dinos.

*Warning: graphic image*

There were seven orders where this had taken place, involving a total of 83,000kgs of meat, of which more than a third (30,000kg) was horsemeat.

Mixing in cheaper horsemeat to the beef allowed Flexi Foods to increase the profit on each consignment by approximately 40%.

The “trimming” meat was used in products such as minced meat, sausages, pies and ready meals.

Following the sentencing, DC Stephen Briars, who led the case for the City of London Police Fraud Squad, said this is a “clear case of fraud”.

“The fact the case revolves around meat and the food chain makes no difference to this crime,” he said.

“A lie is a lie whatever the circumstances.

“These three men set out to deceive suppliers, retailers and ultimately the consumer so they could make more money.

“This case has involved a real team effort with staff from the City of London Police, working closely with our partners from local authorities, the Food Standards Agency, and the food industry to gather the evidence necessary to prove this unique and challenging case.”

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An organised crime gang suspected of trading dodgy horsemeat which ended up in human food has been dismantled in a major Europe-wide operation.

A total of 65 people in Spain have been arrested and charged with crimes including: animal abuse, document forgery, perverted the course of justice, crimes against public health, money laundering and being part of a criminal organisation.

Bank accounts, properties and five luxury cars have also been either blocked or seized.

The Spanish Guardia Civil worked with Europol and authorities in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland and the UK to dismantle the group.

The investigation started with the 2013 horsemeat scandal, when Irish authorities found horsemeat in beef burgers affecting numerous food companies.

Bute was also found in the meat and the investigation led to the identification of a Dutch suspect, who was known in the horsemeat industry.

In the summer of 2016, Guardia Civil’s environmental protection service started “Operation Gazel” after unusual behaviour was detected in horsemeat markets.

Officers found that horses in bad shape, too old or labelled as “not suitable for consumption” were being slaughtered in two different abattoirs.

These animals came from Portugal and several places in northern Spain. Their meat was processed in a specific facility before being sent to Belgium — one of the largest exporters of horsemeat in the European Union.

The gang forged the horses’ identification by modifying microchips and documentation.

Samples taken during searches at the slaughterhouses and facilities showed the destination of the meat was mainly outside Spain. This was because these samples matched those found abroad.

The Guardia Civil tracked down the Dutch businessman involved in the Irish beef burger case in Calpe, Alicante, from where they believe he was leading the ring.

Investigators found the Spanish element of the organisation was a small part of the whole European operation, which they believe was being controlled by the Dutch suspect.

He was arrested in Belgium while officers swooped on suspects in the other countries simultaneously.

“In total 66 individuals were arrested or investigated,” said a Europol spokesman.

“Three officers from Europol supported the Spanish actions in Alicante and León.

“As a result of all of these actions, several bank accounts and properties were blocked or seized, and five luxury cars seized.

“Because of the international nature of this case, Guardia Civil asked Europol for its support in the operation.”

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British scientists have developed a new method of testing for traces of horsemeat.

The technique, developed by scientists at the Institute of Food Research, exploits subtle differences in a key meat protein.

The addition of just 1% of horse into beef, or of beef into lamb, mince is now easy to spot.

The technique also gives an estimate of how much unlabelled meat is concealed in the product.

“It competes very well with DNA testing for things like heavily processed foods and is also quantitative in a way that DNA tests are not,” said Dr Kate Kemsley, who led the year-long development of the test.

The red colour of meat is due to a protein called myoglobin.

Proteins are made up of amino acids, and. The myoglobin of beef, for example, differs from that of horse by 18 amino acids.

This means that if beef and horse proteins are broken up in the same way, researchers can detect these small differences in amino acid composition by measuring the respective mass of protein fragments within a sample.

This is the basis of the new test. Protein extracted from a meat sample is chemically chopped into fragments, called peptides, using an enzyme.

The peptide “soup” is fed into a mass spectrometer, which is tuned to measure the masses of only a handful of selected peptides. If a burger contains only beef, only beef peptides will appear. But if any horse meat is present, some horse peptides will also show up.

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The entire procedure takes around two hours.

Dr Kemsley is now working on a two-year project, funded by the EU, to see if the technique can be extended to multi-ingredient and heavily processed foods.

This work is being carried out with partners in Germany and Poland.

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Three men have been charged with fraud following a horsemeat contamination investigation.

The charges follow a City of London Police-led an inquiry into how food products, sold as beef, became “adulterated” with horsemeat.

Alex Ostler-Beech, 43, of Highfield Close in Hull; Ulrik Nielsen, 57, of Gentofte in Denmark; and Andrew Sideras, 54, of Frias Walk in Southgate, were all charged with conspiracy to defraud.

The complex international criminal investigation involved the City of London Police, the national policing lead for fraud, working together with the Food Standards Agency, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and enforcement agencies in the UK and Europe.

Ostler-Beech was first arrested in Hull and Sideras in London in July 2013 by the City of London Police.

In August, Nielsen was also interviewed under caution in Hull along with another 52-year-old man, who has been released with no further action.

“The CPS has today (26 August) authorised charges against three men, relating to the sale of mixed beef and horsemeat products which were sold as beef,” said Kristen Jones, head of specialist fraud for the CPS.

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“After carefully considering evidence from the UK and overseas, the CPS has decided that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to charge these three men.

“This decision comes after a thorough investigation conducted by the City of London Police in liaison with partner agencies.”

The three men have been released on bail and are due to appear at City of London Magistrates’ Court on 27 September.

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An estimated 50,000 horses “disappeared” from across Europe during the 2013 horsemeat scandal, according to a leading professor.

Professor Chris Elliott was appointed by the UK government to investigate the horsemeat scandal and food fraud.

His report — the Elliott Review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply Networks — was published in 2014.

He has now warned that the UK is still at risk of another similar scandal unless it is taken seriously by authorities and police.

Prof Elliott gave the warning at the 2015 Fighting Food Fraud conference held at Doncaster racecourse on 17 September.

“2013 was a wake-up call for the UK,” he said. “With organised gangs becoming attracted in to food fraud, we must act now to prevent public health threats.

“The idea that 50,000 horses could just disappear may seem incredible to some, but the scale at which some of these gangs can operate is huge.

“Wherever there is money to be made — and the sums involved in food fraud are in the billions — criminals will find a way.”

He added that up to 50,000 horses “disappeared” during the financial meltdown that started in 2008 and it is “probable” that a lot of these ended up in our food supply system.

This further warning follows the news last year that seven countries in the European Union were still mislabeling meat (news, 21 August 2014).

H&H also reported earlier this year (news, 16 July) on what has been done since the scandal to prevent it from happening again.

Developments include the establishment of a national food crime unit by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which Prof Elliott has described as a “good first step”.

“Having spoken to its head, Andy Morling, I am hopeful that we can begin to tackle the issue and better protect the public,” Prof Elliott added.

“The only way we can succeed is for everyone, from farmers and producers to retailers and the authorities, to work together to improve the tracking and auditing of our food supply chain.”

The conference was hosted by the Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance (HABAC).

Prof Elliott is also director of the institute for global food security at Queen’s University Belfast.

World Horse Welfare’s chief executive Roly Owers told H&H that the charity warned at the time that a key driver of the scandal was the “murky trade” in horses, ponies and donkeys of low financial value across Europe.

“Professor Elliott makes some highly relevant comments — although if the 2013 horsemeat scandal really was a ‘wake-up’ call then we seem remarkably reticent at taking action as a result,” he said.

“To help combat this trade we urgently need a functional and robustly enforced equine identification system across Europe, which provides a clear link between horse and owner, and also proper risk based checks of horses being transported across country borders.

“Until these issues are addressed Europe remains vulnerable to a similar scandal erupting and horses will remain vulnerable to abuse.”

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A restaurant in Hertfordshire has been fined nearly £4,000 for serving “zebra” steaks that were in fact horsemeat.

The Steakhouse’s menu included cuts of zebra, crocodile, kangaroo, llama and wildebeest (not pictured).

Two trading standards officers from Hertfordshire County Council visited the Watford restaurant in April last year, following numerous complaints.

The pair posed as customers and ordered zebra and wildebeest from the menu.

When their meal was served, they entered the restaurant’s kitchen and found an order ticket for “one venison, chips and salad” and “one horse, chips and salad”.

Kunal Soni, 32, believed to have been the manager of the restaurant, claimed the waiter had “made a mistake”.

However, when the meat was analysed, the “zebra” was found to be horse and the “wildebeest” was venison.

The officers went back to the restaurant the following month (May) and found more than 22kg of horsemeat in the freezer.

Despite this. horse and venison were not on the restaurant’s menu.

Last week (14 September) Soni, of Hemel Hemsted, pleaded guilty to misinforming customers at St Albans Magistrates Court.

He told magistrates he was merely helping out at the restaurant, having just sold the business to the chef.

However, the court heard he had described himself as the manager to the council on three separate occasions.

Soni was conditionally discharged for 12 months but ordered to pay £3,861 costs.

“The public must have confidence in the food that is put in front of them when eating out,” Richard Thake, cabinet member for community protection at Hertfordshire County Council, said after the hearing.

“There can be implications regarding traceability of the food, allergens and religious concerns in some cases.”

The Steakhouse has since been taken over by VG Restaurant Ltd.

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The 2013 horse meat scandal shed light on fraudulent practices on a huge scale.

More than two years on from the grim news, what has happened and what is being done to try and ensure that history does not repeat itself?

As well as the public’s horror, the issue also threw up other major questions.

There were worries this could mean bute was entering the food chain and concerns about the conditions in abattoirs in the UK, as well as whether live slaughter horses were being illegally exported from Britain.

In January 2013, a study by the Irish Food Safety Agency found equine DNA in processed beef products.

It found that 29% of a tested Tesco’s everyday value burger was in fact horse meat.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) ordered tests on processed beef products.

The following month, it found the meat content in a Findus beef lasagne was up to 100% horse meat.

Further tests took place, identifying horse meat in other supermarket products, and the FSA said all horses must be tested for bute — and be found negative — before entering the food chain.

At the time, H&H ran a special investigation report into the scandal, which also highlighted the suffering that many slaughter horses face on their journey across Europe to the abattoir.

Since the scandal, the FSA says it has put arrangements in place to help prevent, identify and respond to incidents in future.

A spokeswoman said the agency has revised its incident management plan and this was tested earlier this year.

She added: “We continue to work with local authorities and agencies to uncover and prosecute or disrupt cases of food fraud and related criminality.”

She said they are “refreshing” the way people can confidentially report concerns to them.

In 2014 the FSA also established a food crime unit, which looks at the current and future threat to the UK from food crime.

But have things changed for Europe’s slaughter horses?

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers said they have no evidence that transport conditions have altered since the scandal.

“For this to happen the law would need to be changed and there is no sign the European Commission will do this, despite the advice from their own scientific advisors,” he said.

“However, thanks to public support, our campaign has had a huge impact on the numbers of horses suffering this dreadful trade, down from 125,000 a decade ago to around 50,000 today.”

In 2015-16 the FSA has £1.8m available to enforcement authorities for additional sampling in priority areas, including checking what type of animal meat has come from.

The food crime unit has started work on the 2015 food crime annual strategic assessment, which explores the nature and scale of the food crime threat to the UK.

Set to be finished by 2016, this will drive the unit’s wider work and ensure resources are focused on threats to the UK.

World Horse Welfare wants to see a robust, enforceable equine identification system. They also want a new European transport regulation incorporating a 12-hour journey limit, improved enforcement of the regulation across the EU and CCTV in equine abattoirs.

Mr Owers said: “We believe that tougher checks at UK abattoirs have increased the under-the-radar trade of horses and ponies of a low market value to the continent, ostensibly for riding but in reality we believe many go for slaughter.”

Almost 10,000 horses were killed for human consumption in the UK in 2012, compared to less than 5,000 in 2013.

He added “probably thousands” of horses would be spared the “needless ordeal” of being exported for slaughter if the UK enforced its own laws.

Ref: 16 July, 2015

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A Dutch meat trader has been sentenced to 30 months in jail for falsifying documents to pass off horsemeat as beef.

Willy Selten, 45, was arrested in May 2013 as part of the European investigation into horsemeat contamination of beef products.

The “horsemeat scandal” caused ready-made meals to be pulled from supermarket freezers across Europe.

Selten was found guilty in court earlier this month (7 April) of forging invoices, labels and declarations to pass off over 300 tonnes of horsemeat as beef.

The scandal was first exposed in January 2013 in Ireland after which 50,000 tonnes of meat products were urgently recalled across Europe amid fears it contained horsemeat.

Tainted meat was discovered in Austria, Germany, France and Sweden. Horsemeat was also found in burgers produced by UK supermarkets.

The suspect beef was found to have been sold by Selten’s companies in the Netherlands — Wiljo Import en Export BV and Vleesgroothandel Willy Selten.

In April 2013 the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said 370 companies around Europe and 132 more in the Netherlands were affected by the vast recall, because they bought meat from the two companies.

“Beef cuts and horse cuts were stored in the freezer with the same article number,” Selten told the Dutch Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau press agency at the time of the trial in March..

“I forgot to give them different numbers and it’s wrong what happened. Of course we should have exercised better control.”

Prosecutors had called for a five-year jail sentence for Selten to reflect the damage he had done to the country’s meat industry.

He was earlier declared bankrupt and reportedly faces damages claims of €11m.

During his trial the defendant admitted making mistakes but argued he had not deliberately committed fraud.

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A slaughterhouse boss, who has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the 2013 horsemeat scandal, could be jailed for up to two years.

Peter Boddy, 65, admitted one count of failing to abide by EU meat traceability regulations concerning more than 17 horse carcasses at Southwark Crown Court last week (28 January).

At an earlier hearing in September, Boddy who runs a slaughter house in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to selling 50 horses for meat without keeping records to show who had bought them.

Last week the slaughterhouse’s 54-year-old manager David Moss, admitted forging an invoice concerning the number of horses sold in a transaction on 12 February 2013.

The pair were released on bail and will be sentenced on 23 March in London.

Judge Alistair McCreath said: “I tell you now that I have reached no view whatever as to the right sentence, no preliminary view, no settled view, nothing.

“I say that so that you understand that by granting you bail and ordering reports, I don’t give you any indication.

“So don’t run away with the idea that I have given you any kind of hint, any kind of indication or promise, what is going to happen.”

Boddy is the first person to face jail in relation to the 2013 horsemeat scandal.

There was widespread anger in October when separate charges against the directors of an abattoir in Cheshire were dropped due to insufficient evidence. The Red Lion Abattoir hit the headlines when undercover footage emerged showing cruelty to horses was obtained by an animal rights group.

Derek Lesley Turner, 80, and his son Derek William Turner, 41, both denied seven charges of “permitting horses to sustain avoidable excitement, pain or suffering” and on 27 October the case was formally discontinued.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 5 February 2015

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A faster and cheaper method to test for horsemeat has been developed by scientists in Britain.

The new test — which takes just 10min — examines the chemical composition of the fat in meats, rather than the current method of analysing DNA.

The technique, which uses similar technology to a hospital MRI scanner, has been created as a joint project between the Institute of Food Research (IFR) and Oxford Instruments. The method has now been trialled in an industrial setting by a leading meat processor.

“It’s a stroke of luck that some of the most important meats turn out to have fat signatures that we can tell apart so easily with this method”, said the IFR’s Dr Kate Kemsley.

“It’s been very satisfying to see results from a real industrial setting sit right on top of those we generated in our two labs. We think this testing method should work well at key points in the supply chain, for example at meat wholesalers and processors.”

The horsemeat scandal last year exposed the vulnerability of the food market across Europe.

In September the European Union Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health announced changes to the equine identification system across the Continent to try to prevent horses illegally entering the food chain.

Under the new regulations every foal in Europe will have to be issued with a single passport and a unique identification number.

All horses born after 1 July 2009 will have to be microchipped so their records can be checked, updated and serve as a passport.

It will be compulsory for this information to be stored on a centralised database for all EU member states.

Despite these proposed changes and other developments across the industry, an inside source warned H&H that food fraud was still a serious problem.

It is hoped that the new test, if adopted, will make widespread testing a more affordable option.

Ref: Horse & Hound; 18 December 2014

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Two Ireland-based companies are coming to blows over a defamation claim that originates from last year’s horsemeat scandal.

Martin McAdam is suing ABP Food Group over a press release it issued during the height of the controversy, which named McAdam Food Products as one of its suppliers.

Mr McAdam argues that his company was “hung out” by ABP in an attempt to “deflect media attention away” from itself.

However, the High Court in Dublin ruled earlier this month (14 November) that the case cannot proceed further until Mr McAdam has raised more than half a million euros so that he can pay costs if he loses the case.

Mr McAdam has now challenged ABP to set aside the costs of €640,000 (£506,724) themselves to allow the case to go ahead.

“ABP is the largest beef processor in Europe and I hereby call on them publicly to do the honourable thing, in order to challenge me in the courts that I did supply them with horsemeat and provide evidence, for the good of the public interest and the Irish beef industry,” he told local press.

ABP denies defamation and also claims that Mr McAdam’s business was already having financial difficulties prior to the statement.

A spokesman from ABP said the company was “pleased” with the latest judgment but that it would be “inappropriate” to comment further while proceedings are ongoing.

Ref: H&H Thursday 4 December, 2014

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Charges against the directors of an abattoir that was at the centre of the horsemeat scandal, after undercover footage emerged showing cruelty to horses, have been dropped due to insufficient evidence.

Derek Lesley Turner, 80, and his son Derek William Turner, 41, each denied seven charges of “permitting horses to sustain avoidable excitement, pain or suffering” at the Red Lion Abattoir in Cheshire.

Yesterday (Monday, 27 October), notices formally discontinuing the cases went before Crewe Magistrates Court.

Footage that was filmed by secret cameras installed by an animal rights group showed three Polish workers stunning horses in the presence of other horses — which is not allowed — and hitting a horse with a knotted piece of rope to keep it under control prior to it being slaughtered for meat (news, 23 January).

It has been reported that the workers involved in the video have now returned to Poland.

David Kirwan from Kirwans Solicitors, who represented the Turners, said: “The Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] was exclusively reliant on covert video footage obtained illegally by a non-regulatory body.

“There was no evidence that suggested that the Turners, who do not appear in any of the footage, knew what was happening, let alone ‘permitted’ it as they were accused of.”

Earlier this month the CPS also dropped a separate case where five people were due to stand trial relating to documents of six horses that were rejected for slaughter at the Red Lion Abattoir in early 2013 (news, 2 October).

Employees at Hillside Animal Sanctuary, in Norwich, which gathered the undercover footage, told H&H they were “extremely disappointed” that the case had been dropped.

“Hillside’s investigators put themselves at considerable personal risk in order to obtain evidence of extreme cruelty,” said founder Wendy Valentine.

“Despite the UK having some of the best welfare laws in the world, this case shows once again that they are simply not upheld, leaving cruelty and neglect to run rife while its perpetrators get away with it time and time again.”

Roly Owers from World Horse Welfare added that “it is difficult to comprehend how no-one could be brought to account for the horrific and extensive equine welfare abuses that were revealed”.

“These illustrated clear breaches of the law that protects the welfare of equines at the time of killing, which is completely unacceptable.

“This outcome clearly supports our call, ignored by Defra so far, for compulsory CCTV throughout the slaughterhouse to assist the FSA in their duty of enforcement and so prevent this type of cruelty happening again.

“World Horse Welfare supports owners having the option to have their animals humanely slaughtered in a slaughterhouse but compliance with the law is a minimum prerequisite to have confidence in this option.”

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We recognise that horse! H&H readers were shocked to spot Hickstead hero Adventure De Kannan accompanying a story about horsemeat on the Daily Mail online earlier this week (14 October, 2014).

Although fans of the one-eyed wonder horse expressed disgust and horror at the website’s use of the photo (see below), H&H is sure there is no cause for panic and Addy can sleep soundly at his home in Buckinghamshire.

“Absolutely sickened to have clicked on the Daily Mail this morning and seen they are using Trevor Breen’s horse Adventure de Kannan for an article regarding horses being used for human consumption,” said one irate reader.

The website quickly replaced the image — clearly realising the error of using one of the country’s most popular showjumpers to illustrate this particular story.

Addy’s regular rider Trevor Breen told H&H: “I’ve been away, but my wife told me she’d seen it. His owner [Karen Swann] was quite upset about the whole thing, so we’re pleased it’s been taken down. We’re not sure how he got on there in the first place.”

Addy, who had his eye removed in 2013 due to an ongoing issue, was propelled into the spotlight when he won the Hickstead Derby this summer.

The horse has an excellent record at the West Sussex venue — taking the speed derby in 2009 and the eventing grand prix in 2012.

And he was back in ribbons last week too — taking the Grandstand Trophy at the Horse of the Year Show.

The Daily Mail story was entitled “Horse, a healthy change to crisps: Biltong snack launches as healthy, high protein alternative to junk food”.

The snack has been launched by Musclefood.com as a health food for fitness fanatics and is reportedly a form of biltong, which is normally made from beef.

It is said to only have 114 calories in a 50g pack and is made in Belgium from Belgian horses.

Last year the horse world was horrified to discover some beef products were being sold that contained horsemeat — including lasagnes from Findus that were found to be 100% equine.

Princess Anne then created a further media storm when she suggested the ideal of eating horses as a potential solution to the ongoing equine welfare problem.

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A London-based food import company has been fined £5,000 after pork sausages were found to contain nearly 50% horsemeat.

It is the first case of its kind in the UK since the horsemeat scandal broke in January 2013.

The Kent Trading Standards officers discovered the contamination of the Bulgarian-cured sausages, in a store in Dartford, during spot checks last year.

Under UK law it is the supplier, and not the shop selling the product, which is liable for prosecution.

Expo Foods Ltd, based in Enfield, admitted breaching the Food Safety Act before Dartford magistrates yesterday (Thursday 2 October).

Prosecuting on behalf of Kent County Council Trading Standards, Sarah Beasley told magistrates: “Expo had relied on the brand name rather than doing any testing themselves.

“It is acknowledged that Expo is a relatively small company and has more than 2,000 product lines and cannot afford to test them all.

“But no matter how large or how small the company may be, customers must have confidence in the food they buy and reassurance that it is safe.”

The company has subsequently removed the product from sale and has made changes to its supply network.

After the hearing, Richard Strawson, from Kent Trading Standards, said officers were concerned the product was found on sale.

He said: “We are aware of the sensitivities among the public concerning eating horsemeat and therefore feel our actions were necessary.”

The firm was also ordered to pay £2,500 in costs.

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A row has erupted over Dartmoor hill ponies after one charity suggested using them for human consumption could safeguard their future.

However, South West Equine Protection has blasted the Dartmoor Hill Pony Association’s (DHPA) suggestion that Dartmoor ponies should be eaten.

In a letter to SWEP, Charlotte Faulkner from the DHPA wrote that it was “understandably an upsetting subject” but that “Dartmoor pony herders will only keep their herds if they have a sustainable market for them”.

She added: “Stangely, having a meat trade should improve ponies chances of finding a new home at sales.”

However, SWEP is staunchly against the idea.

Becky Treeby from SWEP said: “We will never support overbreeding or killing ponies for profit.”

The organisation wants to promote “responsible breeding”.

“We don’t want to see the meat industry go ahead; we want to produce good quality Dartmoors,” Ms Treeby said.

Princess Anne created a media storm last year when she mentioned the idea of eating horsemeat as a potential solution to the ongoing equine welfare problem (news, 21 November).

Earlier this year H&H reported on concerns for the future of the hill breed after the annual autumn sale was ended. In the mid-fifties, between 500 and 600 Dartmoor ponies were sold in the Tavistock market. In 2013 only 14 of the 90 ponies entered were sold, at an average price of 11-12gns.

The Friends of Dartmoor Hill Pony — also run by Charlotte Faulkner — is undertaking a three-year contraception pilot.

“We find it hypocritical that on the one hand she’s saying save the ponies, and on the other saying ‘serve them up on a plate’,” added Ms Treeby.

However, World Horse Welfare does not dismiss the idea. The charity’s Roly Owers said: “This recent proposal is another potential option, especially in the current UK horse crisis, to help protect the Dartmoor pony herd, albeit one that many may find upsetting. Horse slaughter is a very emotive subject, but we believe it should be an available route for owners.

“Horse slaughter should never be seen as a panacea for reckless overbreeding.”

Ms Faulkner did not respond to H&H’s calls.

However, in a statement she said: “The first solution is to breed fewer ponies. The next is to wait until foals are three and put them in to the human food chain.

“Using both solutions would mean the farmers could breed from fewer ponies and keep the offspring for three years. This project has support from some of the hoteliers on the moor and we are confident others will follow.”

She added that a “compassionate” abbattoir had already been found.

The Moorland Exmoor Pony Breeders Group said it had discussed the idea also.

“Some owners suggested that as the normal horsemeat market is now poor, increased prices per kilo could be achieved by presenting Exmoor pony meat as a speciality meat, to be sold in restaurants.”

However it was decided that there would be “negative implications”. “All of the farmers represented would prefer the foals to find good homes, than face slaughter,” she added.

This news story was first published in H&H magazine (2 October 2014).

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A slaughterhouse boss has admitted selling 50 horses for meat without keeping records to show who had bought them.

Peter Boddy, 65, who runs West Yorkshire slaughterhouse in Todmorden, appeared in Southwark Crown Court last week (24 September) and is the first person to plead guilty over last year’s horsemeat scandal (news, 21 February 2013).

The slaughterhouse’s manager, David Moss, was also in court and denied forging an invoice in February 2013 in Mr Boddy’s name concerning the number of horses sold in a transaction.

The pair are both accused of failing to abide by EU meat traceability regulations in relation to horses, which state that the source of meat should be traceable from field to fork.

Both men are also charged with failing to comply with food traceability requirements for more than 17 horse carcasses between July 2012 and February 2013. But they did not enter pleas on this count and intend to apply for the charge to be dismissed.

Mr Boddy and Mr Moss will stand trial next year, date to be confirmed, at Southwark Crown Court.

Case dropped

In a separate case the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been branded as “over zealous” after dropping a case against a north-west abattoir.

Five people have been charged relating to administrative procedures at the Red Lion Abattoir, Cheshire. The abattoir — which was licensed to sell horsemeat in Europe — hit headlines last year after undercover footage showed inhumane practices and cruelty to horses being slaughtered.

Company director Derek Leslie Turner, his wife Valerie Ann Turner and their son, Derek William Turner, were charged with 12 counts of failing to comply with regulations in relation to the slaughter of horses for food consumption. Each faced fines of up to £5,000.

John Young, a former senior manager with the Meat Hygiene Service and the Food standards Agency, and Anne Boyd were charged with intentionally obstructing someone acting in the execution of the Food Hygiene Regulations (2006).

Mr Young was also charged with allowing, causing or permitting a horse that had a detention notice served on it to be removed from the premises.

As H&H went to the press the FSA had confirmed that it was abandoning the prosecution and was going to do so formally at a hearing before Chester Crown Court on Wednesday (1 October).

Agricultural lawyer David Kirwan of Kirwans, who represented John Young and Derek Turner junior, said that the FSA had responded to the horsemeat scandal with “undue haste”.

“They got it wrong in this case, with a deeply flawed, unsustainable prosecution in the name of public health,” Mr Kirwan added. “This case had nothing to do with horsemeat ending up on British dinner tables.”

“This over zealous and bungling FSA investigation highlights how the food regulatory body has little grasp of legislation or the issues facing the farming industry — yet at times it is gung-ho with enforcement and prosecution.

“The European Union legislation was misused and misinterpreted by the FSA, as we were confident of establishing in court.”

Problems continue

Last month the European Union (EU) Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health announced changes to bolster equine identification across Europe to prevent another horsemeat scandal (news, 25 September). Under the new regulations it will be compulsory for all horses to be registered on a European-wide equine database.

However, despite the changes, an industry source warned H&H that food fraud was still a serious problem.

“There is a strong chance that there is still a lot of horsemeat around,” the source said.

“As soon as the scandal erupted, it [the meat] would have been hidden in a cold store. There is every chance that people will now be trying to reintroduce it into the supply chain.”

This news story was first published in H&H magazine (2 October 2014)

A new Europe-wide equine database is to be introduced by 2016 to try and prevent a repeat of last year’s horsemeat scandal.

The European Union (EU) Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health announced the changes earlier this month (12 September), which means that every foal will have to be issued with a single passport and unique identification number before its first birthday.

Under the new regulations all horses born after 1 July 2009 will have to be microchipped so their records can be checked and updated and serve as a passport.

It will be compulsory for this information to be stored on a centralised database for all EU member states.

The regulation will apply from 1 January 2016. However, EU countries that do not already have a centralised database will have until 1 July 2016 to put one in place.

Currently 25 out of the 28 member states have a database, but the UK does not — following the closure of the National Equine Database in 2012 due to lack of government funding.

Last year’s horsemeat scandal highlighted the failure of current regulations, leading to the industry calling for a review of the “broken passport system”.

EU commissioner in charge of health Tonio Borg said: “As promised, this is another lesson drawn from last year’s horsemeat fraud: the rules endorsed by the member states will strengthen the horse passport system in place.

“I believe that closer co-operation will enhance the safeguards which prevent non-food quality horsemeat ending up on our plates.”

Equine charities welcomed the move, having been campaigning for tougher regulations to improve horse welfare (news, 16 January).

“Horses in the UK will especially benefit from these tougher laws as the UK’s system of equine identification could arguably be said to be one of the most complex, and abused, systems in Europe,” said World Horse Welfare’s Roly Owers.

Currently there are more than 75 passport issuing organisations, yet no central database in the UK.

“We have always been clear that a central database is a fundamental element in building a system that is more workable and enforceable, which can better protect our horses,” Mr Owers added.

Potential pitfalls

Although this move has been seen as a huge step forward, concerns have been raised as to whether these new rules can be effectively introduced and policed.

Two previous equine databases have already failed in the UK.

In 2001 the British Equine Database — which recorded data for sport horse breeding — closed after eight years when British Showjumping withdrew from the scheme.

The National Equine Database (NED) was launched in 2008 but folded in 2012 after Defra withdrew funding saying that it was “not effective”, a measure that was slammed by vets and welfare groups (news, 23 August 2012).

Industry professionals are also worried whether the new measures can be practically introduced.

H&H veterinary consultant Karen Coumbe said: “As an equine vet in practice, I still come across horses and ponies with no passports, as well as those with multiple passports and variable numbers of microchips, some of which are registered and some not.

“The current situation is a mess and I totally agree that every effort needs to be made to improve this. Unfortunately, realistically it is going to be an enormous challenge to do so.”

Equine charities have also warned that the new rules will only work if they can be enforced.

“The new regulations will help, but they alone will not solve the problem. A law is only effective if it is enforced, and this is especially true for identification,” said the Horse Trust’s Jeanette Allen, who is also a member of the Equine Sector Council, which has been campaigning for the tightening of regulations for years.

“The government must support better enforcement, which has been a low priority.”

The root of the problem

An independent government report into the horsemeat scandal by Professor Chris Elliott was published earlier this month (4 September) and stated that “urgent and comprehensive changes” to the way the UK food system is policed are needed to “protect consumers from serious organised crime”.

However, there is a fear that appropriate funds have not been allocated in order to achieve this.

“A lot will depend on what happens at the next election,” a source close to the enquiry told H&H.

“There is no money available so any action that the government takes will have to be paid for by taking money from another project.

“There is an appetite to deal with it but the government is hamstrung as they don’t have the money to pay for it.”

There is also concern from the industry that while supermarkets continue to drive down prices, due to consumer demand, food fraud is more likely to happen.

Much of the meat that was found to be contaminated during last year’s scandal was in low cost “value” products. One of the contaminated ready meal lasagnes cost just £1.60.

Low priced beef products are still available from all major supermarkets. Iceland sells eight British beef burgers for £1.50 while Asda’s cheapest 300g lasagne is 71p.

“There is no sign of the price war ending,” the source told H&H. “With Tesco’s recent drop in profits it is looking to make more and more price promises.

“Ultimately in order to achieve this they will have to take a hit on their margin or ask suppliers to pick up the tab.

“With margins being squeezed throughout the supply chain the temptation to cut corners is always going to be there.”

This news story was first published in H&H magazine on 25 September 2014

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More than a year-and-a-half after the horsemeat scandal broke, it has emerged that seven European countries are still mislabelling meat, and there are further concerns about horsemeat importation from outside the EU.

There was outrage from consumers last year when widespread food fraud was discovered across the UK and Europe, which led to calls for a mass overhaul of the traceability of meat sources.

Despite this, the European Commission has revealed that DNA testing, which took place between April and June this year, still found 16 cases of horsemeat being labelled as beef out of 2,622 samples taken.

The number of cases was a marked decrease from similar tests last year and there were no cases confirmed in the UK or Ireland.

Animal welfare charities have welcomed the “significant improvement”, but are still concerned about the welfare of horses involved in the food chain.

“It’s encouraging to see the reduction, but alarming that this is going on at all given the scale of last year’s crisis,” World Horse Welfare’s Roly Owers told H&H.

“Huge equine welfare concerns remain in the horsemeat trade, especially with the illegal market, something that is much to Europe’s shame. Making matters worse, without effective equine identification, enforcement is nigh on impossible and horses are likely entering the food chain when they should not, putting human health at risk.”

Importation argument

Concerns have also been raised about the importation of horsemeat from outside the European Union. The Humane Society International (HSI) reiterated its call last month for the importation of all horsemeat from outside the EU to be stopped.

Joanna Swabe, HSI EU director, said: “The EU import requirements look great on paper, but the

implementation thereof by non-EU countries has been farcical.”

The HSI has also repeatedly warned that the measures implemented by Canada and Mexico to prevent meat from horses that have been treated with banned substances — such as bute — from entering the EU food system are fundamentally flawed and susceptible to fraud.

“Even the European Commission’s own audits have highlighted this, which makes it all the more outrageous that they have failed to take action to suspend the import of horsemeat products that do not meet EU food safety standards,” Ms Swabe added.

Investigation delays

Professor Chris Elliott, from Queen’s Institute for Global Food Security, Belfast, was first tasked with undertaking an independent review into the horsemeat scandal in June 2013. However, last month’s Parliament reschuffle — in which environment secretary Owen Paterson was replaced by Liz Truss — has resulted in a further delay to its publication, which is now expected early next month.

In the meantime there is still widespread distrust from the general public about the source of meat being sold in the UK.

“I think it is very likely that horsemeat is still entering the food chain and that people in the UK are eating it,” said an H&H reader.

It was announced this week that Queen’s University has also been awarded £500,000 to investigate global food fraud. Prof Chris Elliott will look into vulnerabilities in the food chain and offer solutions to building consumer confidence.

First published in H&H magazine 21 August 2014

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Welfare charities have welcomed the Princess Royal’s suggestions that horse welfare could be improved if we changed our attitude towards eating horse meat.

Princess Anne sparked debate when she claimed owners might take better care of their horses if they had a value as meat at the annual the World Horse Welfare conference last week (14 November). The Princess is president of the charity.

“Should we be considering a real market for horse meat and would that reduce the number of welfare cases, if there was a real value in the horse meat sector?” she asked.

“I chuck that out for what it’s worth because I think it needs a debate.”

The point comes as charities warn that there are as many as 7,000 horses at risk of neglect this winter. To date in 2013, World Horse Welfare has taken in 31% more rescue cases.

Roly Owers, chief executive of World Horse Welfare, thanked Princess Anne for opening the debate.

“The sad fact is that, from a purely economic perspective, they [horses] can now be worth more as meat,” said Mr Owers. “Many in the horseworld have known this for a long time.

“Our president has been brave enough to say this openly in hopes of generating a thought-provoking debate.”

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (21 November 2013)

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Horse movement rules between Britain, Ireland and France are to be tightened in the wake of the horse meat scandal.

The Tripartite Agreement — which allows horses to travel between the UK, France and Ireland without the need for a health certificate — is to revert to its original status. This means the agreement will now only apply to registered racehorses and FEI approved competition horses.

The rules would only apply between France and the UK, and Ireland and France, due to the UK and Ireland’s shared health status.

Roly Owers from World Horse Welfare told H&H that he had been encouraging Defra to tighten the agreement “for years”.

“We were in discussions before the horse meat scandal, but there’s no doubt that gave it extra focus and impetus and Defra an increased willingness to listen,” he said. “Currently, there is no record of which horses are travelling — which is the problem.”

The Tripartite Agreement was set up by the chief veterinary officers in Ireland, France and the UK in the 1970s to allow thoroughbreds to travel between the three countries without a formal vet inspection.

But the industry says that since 2005 — when the agreement was expanded to allow free movement of all horses except those destined for slaughter — the disease risk to the UK’s equine population has seriously increased. Vets having been calling for a change for a long time.

Jan Rogers from the British Equestrian Federation said: “The proposed changes are evidence based. They are necessary to continue to permit horses of high health and high performance status to move between the three signatory countries, without the need for inspection, health attestation or a health certificate.

“If they don’t have an FEI recognition card, owners have to apply for a health certificate, which will be an additional burden. But it will be worth it to prevent the disease risk.”

Roly Owers said the agreement was “essential” to help prevent the spread of disease and “protect horses of a lower market value from being shipped unnecessarily and untraceably from country to country, with all of the welfare problems that creates”.

Louise Kemble of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association said the racing and breeding industries also welcomed the proposals.

A date for the changes to come in has not yet been set, but a letter from Defra stated it expects that a revised agreement would operate from January 2014.

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (12 September 2013).

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In the wake of the horse meat scandal, a survey has uncovered further evidence that the horse passport system needs a massive overhaul.

Eighty per cent of respondents believed the current system “does not fulfil its purpose”.

Nearly 4,000 people — including owners, vets, passport issuing offices, abattoirs and vets — completed the survey sent out by the Equine Sector Council for Health and Welfare.

The results show a “dramatic lack of confidence” in the system, said the group.

“This puts us in a much better position to show the scale of misunderstanding of the rules,” said sector council chairman Jeanette Allen. “We need to move forward now to create a simpler system and ensure that communication is improved.”

Last month a letter was sent out to the UK’s 75-plus passport issuing organisations (PIOs), outlining the Europe Commission’s plans for member states to implement a single PIO and central database (news, 9 May).

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (6 June 2013)

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There was a new twist in the horsemeat scandal yesterday (Wednesday 10 April) when it was announced that bute has been detected in Asda’s budget corned beef.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has reassured consumers that the levels of horse painkiller phenylbutazone in the Asda Smart Price corned beef are unlikely to cause any harm.

“What we have found in this positive test result is a very low level of [bute]… which is only really just above the limit of detection,” said Andrew Rhodes, director of operations at the FSA.

“This is considerably lower than a therapeutic dose and you would have to consume enormous quantities of meat, way more than anyone could physically consume, to get near.”

Horse carcasses tested positive for traces of bute in February, but this is the first food product revealed to contain the drug.

From Monday 11 February, a new policy has meant that no horsemeat can be released from abattoirs until it has tested free of bute.

The 340g Smart Price tinned corned beef was withdrawn from supermarkets in March after tests showed that it contained horsemeat, but Asda has only recalled the product now that it has been discovered to contain bute.

Asda’s Chosen By You corned beef has also been recalled – it has not tested positive for the drug, but is made in the same factory.

Customers who have bought either product can return it to the supermarket for a refund.

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Suggestions that horses doped with painkillers were killed at a Cheshire abattoir under false passports have been rejected by the company that runs it, High Peak Meat Exports (HPME).

In a piece broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland on 5 March, a man claiming to be an Irish horse transporter said he and others gave unsound horses cortisone injections and bute.

They then inserted false microchips before transporting them to Red Lion Abattoir in Nantwich.

The report did not say the horses were accepted for slaughter at Red Lion, but it implied that unsuitable equines are being slaughtered for human consumption in the UK.

“If a horse had a heartbeat and could walk it would go on that lorry,” said the man, who was not named.

A spokesman for HPME said the company is considering legal action.

“No horses are slaughtered [at Red Lion] without full Food Standard Agency [FSA] veterinary supervision and without ante-mortem health checks and post-mortem checks being applied,” John Young told H&H.

Barrister Stephen Lomax, also speaking for HPME, said every horse killed at Red Lion is checked against its passport by the company and by a representative of the FSA.

If a passport is found to be invalid while the horse is still alive, the animal is returned to its owner.

If a horse passport is subsequently found to be invalid, the meat is destroyed.

Hundreds of horses are turned away from Red Lion each year, he added.

The FSA is investigating a number of alleged passport irregularities involving horses slaughtered at Red Lion.

Mr Lomax said: “All the passports were believed genuine by the FSA at the time of slaughter.”

A BBC Northern Ireland spokesman told H&H: “The BBC stands by its journalism.”

Red Lion was at the centre of controversy earlier this year when footage allegedly showing cruelty to horses at the plant was broadcast on Sky News.

This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (14 March 2013)

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The horsemeat scandal has prompted UK shoppers to change their food buying habits, according to a survey that comes as Tesco said it has pulled more tainted products from its shelves.

Consumer group Which? said the scandal, which broke in January, revealed the need for tighter controls on the food industry.

It said that 60 percent of 2,000 adults who responded to an online survey said they had changed their habits as a result of the scandal and were buying less processed meat.

It also found that 68 percent thought the government was not adequately enforcing labeling laws.

And half had no confidence in the accuracy of ingredient information.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “The horsemeat scandal exposed the need for urgent changes to the way food fraud is detected and standards are enforced.”

Serious failings in oversight of the food industry needed to be put right “if consumers are to feel fully confident in the food they are buying,” he said.

The survey coincides with an announcement by Tesco that tests showed its Simply Roast Meatloaf contained between two and five percent horsemeat.

The product, made in County Armagh, NI, by Eurostock Foods, has been withdrawn, it said.

The admission comes two weeks after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said tests by the UK’s biggest supermarkets on processed minced beef products had returned clear results.

A March 1 statement on the BRC website said 361 tests on 103 products in the previous week by the UK’s major supermarket chains “have produced no new positive results” for horsemeat.

Tesco recently took out full-page advertisements in British newspapers apologising for selling tainted products.

Irish food inspectors reported in January that they had found horsemeat in frozen beef burgers made in Ireland and the UK for sale in UK supermarket chains, including Aldi, Iceland, Lidl and Tesco.

Subsequent investigations found horsemeat being sold as beef in a number of European countries.

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Bute has been found in the meat from eight horses out of 206 killed in one week in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed today (14 February).

Since 30 January the FSA has been checking the meat of all horses slaughtered in the UK for traces of the drug, which is considered dangerous to human health and is not allowed in meat.

Six of the contaminated samples were found at LJ Potter Partners in Taunton and the other two at High Peak Meat Exports Ltd, a trading name of the Red Lion Abattoir in Nantwich, also known as Turners’.

The meat from Potters’ had already been shipped to France, and the FSA is working with the French authorities to trace it.

The remaining meat did not leave the Cheshire slaughterhouse and has now been destroyed.

From Monday (11 February), a new testing policy has meant no horse meat has been released from slaughterhouses until it is proved clear of bute.

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A West Yorkshire abattoir has been accused of passing off horsemeat as beef for kebabs and burgers.

Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, in Todmorden, was raided yesterday by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and police.

The FSA believes the abattoir was supplying horse carcasses to Farmbox Meats Ltd, Llandre, Aberystwyth.

Operations have been suspended at both plants.

Until yesterday H&H had believed there were just two slaughterhouses licensed for the killing of horses in the UK — Turners’ in Cheshire and Potters’ in Somerset.

However it has emerged that three other premises — Peter Boddy’s in Todmorden, Bowards Farm in Thirsk and Hewitts in Chester are also licensed by the FSA.

Andrew Rhodes, FSA director of operations, said: “I ordered an audit of all horse producing abattoirs in the UK after this issue first arose last month and I was shocked to uncover what appears to be a blatant misleading of consumers.

“I have suspended both plants immediately while our investigations continue.”

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Tests have shown that some Findus beef lasagne ready meals are 100% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has revealed.

The products, made by the French company Comigel, have been taken off the shelves of convenience stores and supermarkets across the UK.

And the FSA has said the levels of horsemeat point to criminal activity rather than inadvertent contamination on the part of meat suppliers.

An FSA spokesman said: “We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk. However, the FSA has ordered Findus to test the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or ‘bute’.

“Animals treated with phenylbutazone are not allowed to enter the food chain as it may pose a risk to human health.”

Eight horses slaughtered for human consumption in the UK last year had been given bute.

People who have bought any Findus beef lasagne products are advised not to eat them and return them to the shop they bought them from.

Other companies that use meat from Comigel — including Aldi and Tesco — have removed beef products from their stores.

Ten million beef burgers were withdrawn from sale last month after traces horsemeat were found by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Tesco’s Everyday Value Beef Burgers contained 29% horsemeat.

World Horse Welfare has said the abuse of horses in the meat trade goes largely unreported.

Chief executive Roly Owers said: “Where there is horsemeat, you can bet there is horse suffering and not just at the time of slaughter.

“The whole European trade is mired in inadequate laws, needless suffering and the elephant in the room is the spread of infectious equine disease.”

He said the charity does not oppose humane slaughter or the eating of humanely produced horsemeat, which is a personal choice, but it is campaigning to stop the needless long distance transportation of 65,000 horses per year across Europe to slaughter.

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Horse meat has now been found in beef burgers on sale in Spain, an independent consumer group in the country has reported today (29 January).

It comes after it emerged last week that burgers on sale in one UK supermarket contained up to 29% horsemeat and others small amounts.

Irish officials now claim the contaminated meat that led to the UK scare had come from Poland.

Irish agriculture minister Simon Coveney announced the results of further testing by his department on Saturday (26 January).

The ABP Food Group — the company at the centre of the scare — has welcomed the news that the meat had come from a “third party continental supplier”.

And it denied rumours that the company’s Polish plant was responsible for the contaminated meat.

“We are relieved that the source of the problem has been identified,” said chief executive Paul Finnerty.

“The source of the contaminated meat from Poland is not related to ABP’s plant in Poznan. As with all parts of this group the plant does not process any horse meat.”

Many British food businesses have been affected by the scare, including Tesco, Waitrose and Burger King.

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Horsemeat that has been tainted with the anti-inflammatory drug bute could be getting into the food chain, the British Horse Society (BHS) has warned.

And its concerns were been brought up in Parliament today (24 January) by shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh.

Ms Creagh told the House of Commons that “several” UK-slaughtered horses had tested positive for bute, despite it being unlawful for horses that have been administered the drug to be slaughtered for meat.

But agriculture minister David Heath said all meat is checked to ensure it is fit for human consumption and meat that tests positive for bute and other drugs is disposed of.

“Where positive results for phenylbutazone [bute] are found, the Food Standards Authority investigates and takes follow-up action to trace the meat,” he told the Commons.

Tesco everyday value beef burgers were found to contain 29 per cent horsemeat in tests by the Food Standards Authority of Ireland (FSAI), it was revealed earlier this week.

And very small amounts of horse DNA — between 0.1 and 0.3 per cent — were found in some beef burger ranges sold by Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Iceland and Dunnes Stores.

No bute was found in the samples tested by the FSAI.

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Investigations are under way to try to find out how beefburgers on sale in British supermarkets came to contain horsemeat.

Tests on burgers sold in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland found traces of horse DNA — with horsemeat accounting for 29% of the meat content in Tesco Everday Value Beef Burgers.

Burgers containing horse DNA were also on sale in Tesco, Iceland and Dunnes Stores in the Republic of Ireland.

Tesco’s group technical director, Tim Smith said the company “immediately withdrew from sale all products from the supplier in question” after receiving the test results on Tuesday.

Irish food safety officials, who carried out the tests two months ago, said the meat had come from two processing plants in the Irish Republic — Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods — and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire.

Silvercrest and Dalepak both said they had never bought horse product and have launched an investigation into two European suppliers.

Professor Alan Reilly of the Food Standards Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said: “There is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process.

“In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat, and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger.”

Traces of pig DNA were also found in 21 or the 31 beef meal products examined by the FSAI — including cottage pie and lasagne.

“For some religious groups, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable,” said Professor Reilly.

Iceland said it had withdrawn from the sale the two Iceland brand quarter pounder burgers implicated in the study.

Aldi said only one of its products, the Oakhurst Beef Burgers, which are only on sale in the Republic of Ireland, had been affected — and removed from sale.

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Slaughter horses that travel long distances could be helped by plans for meat to be labelled with its country of origin.

Last week the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted for origin labelling on meat, dairy and fruit and vegetables — as well as meat and fish products used in processed food. The vote now goes to the EU Council of Ministers later this year.

This means that Italians — who consume 74% of horsemeat eaten in the EU — will be more aware that their meat has travelled thousands of miles from such places as Romania, Poland or Lithuania.

Jo White from World Horse Welfare, which is battling to halt the long-distance transport of slaughter horses, is delighted with the decision.

Once it becomes law, food producers have three years to update their labels, and small firms will have five years.

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (24 June, ’10)

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Horsemeat has been added to the menu of a restaurant in Edinburgh.

L’Escargot Bleu is offering pan-fried horse rump steak and horse meat steak tartare — and is thought to be the only restaurant in Britain to cook horse.

The French owner of the restaurant, Fred Berkmiller, is importing the meat from France, where about 70,000 horses are eaten annually.

He told local media: “I’m not pushing people to eat horse, but I eat it regularly. It is tender, sweet and less fatty than beef, and contains higher levels of iron and Omega-3.”

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A four-year-old racehorse has been found slaughtered at a ranch in the United States.

The owner of another horse at the Miami ranch discovered the black thoroughbred dead in his stall at about 7am on Wednesday, 9 September.

The horse had been brutally butchered, with its throat slit and front legs removed.

Police found no sign of forced entry to the ranch and are trying to contact a security guard who usually stays at the property until 5am.

Animal rights groups and the police fear the horses are being butchered in order to sell the meat on the black market.

The remains of at least 17 slaughtered horses have been found in Miami-Dade County since January.

In May, two horses were found in a field in Miramar with their throats cut and flesh stripped from their legs.

According to the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the last known horse slaughter occurred at the end of July.

Sergeant Bill Bamford, of Miami Gardens’ police, told a local paper that they were in contact with forces in other counties to look into the similarities between the cases.

The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the culprits.

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Accusations that horse meat unfit for human consumption is being sold illegally to the general public as food has sparked an investigation in New Zealand.

An investigation by undercover TV show has forced New Zealand’s Food Safety Authority to act after the Tuakau Pet Food Abattoir was found selling horse meat for people to eat.

The large Tongan community in Auckland are the main buyers, said Melino Maka, the chairman of the Tongan Advisory Council.

“Some members of the Tongan community do eat horse,” said Mr Maka.

“A lot of people claim it’s a delicacy. The meat is pre-cooked, shredded and then cooked again with coconut oil.”

The dish, known as Loi Hoosi, can be bought in South Auckland markets for £2 a serving.

The actor in the TV expose bought 6kg of horse meat from the abattoir for £8.50. He was told it was freshly killed that morning.

Mr Maka estimated that up to 10,000 Tongans, about 20 per cent of the community in New Zealand, ate horse meat labelled as unfit for human consumption, as none was available labelled fit for human consumption.

Geoff Allen of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, said pet food is made to different standards and while humans may be able to eat it, there is a greater risk of poisoning.

He said: “The way the abattoir was promoting the horse meat as fit for human consumption makes the deception a breach of the Animal Products Act.”

Fines for a company breaching the act are up to £200,000.

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A winning US racehorse has been stolen and butchered for meat in Peru.

Local reports say racehorse Drilling For Oil, was taken from a field at his owners stud near Lima in the early hours of Tuesday (4 August).

The six-year-old had previously won races in the US — including the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs — but had been recently retired to stud in Peru.

A son of Giants Causeway, Drilling For Oil won nearly $300,000 in prize money during his career.

Local authorities believe he was stolen for meat, which would have been sold as on as beef.

The horse’s head, feet, tail and bones were found two miles away from his Israeli owner Hiad Hamide’s stud.

Local reports say thieves let loose other horses to distract guards, before taking Drilling For Oil to sell his meat by the kilo.

Just a couple of weeks ago two stallions at another studfarm in Peru were found beheaded.

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The mysterious deaths of 17 horses across Florida, USA, since January has brought animal rights groups into conflict with local police.

The Florida police has offered little explanation for the spate of killings since January this year, which involve the butchered bodies of horses being found in out of the way places like as rural pastures, in stables and by the side of minor roads.

Animal welfare groups say the horses are being butchered for meat and think the same group is doing the killing.

Richard Couto, an investigator with the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), said it is plainly obvious the horses were being killed and sold as meat.

He said: “Many people close to the SPCA have been approached by guys with coolers, offering horse meat.”

But Florida police detective Alvaro Zabaleta said: “It’s nothing like the spree of horse mutilation that people make it out to be.”

However, after the latest incident where two pet horses were butchered, another police spokesperson, Tania Reus, said: “When you come across a carcass and see a head and very little else, it’s pretty clear.”

Mr Couto said the stance of Florida police was disingenuous: “They’re lying to us. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it’s the same group of people doing this.”

Couto said the carcasses have all the same body parts removed and the identical pieces of plastic are left on the ground.

He said the police is classifying many carcasses as illegal dumping and not including them in crime figures.

The Humane Society of America is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the people responsible for the deaths.

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THE International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) is stepping up its fight against the live transport of horses for slaughter by employing two full-time investigators to monitor travel conditions across Europe.

On 5 January, new EU regulations were introduced to tighten existing Welfare of Animals in Transport legislation laid down in 1995 (news, 30 November 2006). While the ILPH successfully lobbied for the introduction of partitions for journeys of more than 8hr, no changes were made to 1995 rules on rest periods, overall journey times and space per animal.

“Enforcement is our immediate concern,” said ILPH veterinary advisor Keith Meldrum, former chief vet for DEFRA. “We have anecdotal evidence that the rest periods aren’t being met — but we need to back this up.”

Under the regulations, horses can be transported only for 24hr.

“If after these journey times the animals have not reached their destination, they must be unloaded, fed and watered and be rested for 24hr at an EU-approved control post,” a DEFRA spokesman told H&H. “During the journey, they must be given liquid and, if necessary, fed every 8hr. If, on reloading, an animal is assessed as unfit, then it should not continue the journey.”

The two ILPH investigators were hired late last autumn to monitor transport throughout the EU, including Britain. Their brief includes fact-finding about the slaughter trade across Europe, working with European charities, observation at EU checkpoints and other assignments.

EU member states (MS’s) are also required to ensure the transport regulation requirements are being complied with, by carrying out non-discriminatory inspections of animals, transport and accompanying documents.

Under the legislation, veterinary officials can also make spot checks — but the ILPH believes these are not being carried out.

View the ILPH live transport video

Read this news story in full in today’s Horse & Hound (22 February, ’07)

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