EU ministers to meet on horsemeat crisis

European Union farm ministers hold crisis talks in Brussels yesterday to agree a response to a scandal over mislabelled frozen meat products which is spreading across Europe.
The snap talks come a day after British police searching for the source of horsemeat found in kebabs and burgers raided two meat plants, the first such operation in the row, and France became the second EU nation after Britain to find horsemeat posing as beef in frozen food.
It was up to member states to enforce current labelling legislation, he said, reiterating also that the European Commission believed that the scandal "up until now is a labelling issues" and "not a health issue".
"It is evident," he added, "that someone down the line has fraudulently or negligently -- probably fraudulently -- labelled a product in a deceptive way."
The talks between EU agriculture ministers opening at 1630 GMT aim to have "an exchange of views and allow for sharing of information between the most affected member states" -- Britain, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
On Tuesday, supermarkets in Switzerland and the Netherlands became the latest to pull ready-made meals as anger grows across Europe.
France has called for precise labelling on the origin of meat in ready-made dishes.
And President Francois Hollande yesterday warned that the scandal could seriously damage the country's frozen food sector.
Retailers in Britain, Sweden, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands have been removing Comigel products after the firm alerted Swedish frozen food giant Findus to the presence of horsemeat in its meals last week.
Swiss supermarket giant Coop said it had now withdrawn all frozen lasagnes produced by Comigel as a precaution.