Horse meat scandal: EC ban on cheap British meat blamed- The horse meat scandal was caused by a flawed decision by Europe to ban cheap processed British meat which drove retailers to foreign suppliers, a former executive from Britain's food watchdog has said.
Dr Mark Woolf, former head of food authenticity at the Food Standards Agency, said the European Commission told retailers in April last year that they could no longer describe desinewed meat as beef.Desinewed meat is obtained by mechanically rubbing the carcasses of cows under high pressure to form a fine minced meat. It was previously used in most economy range products sold in British supermarkets.
The European Commission gave British retailers just two days notice of the change, forcing them to look to European suppliers for cheap alternatives. The processed meat had previously been used in value products sold by British supermarkets for a decade.
12 Feb 2013, 11:31 am
