Brussels, 07/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the midst of the labelling fraud over horsemeat sold as beef, the Belgian MEP Bart Staes (Greens/EFA) alerted the press, on Thursday 7 March, to the possible health risks of horsemeat from North America.
Of the 108,000 tonnes of horsemeat eaten in the EU every year, one third is imported, 85% of it from Mexico, Canada and Argentina, which are linked to the EU via the NAFTA agreement, but the meat actually comes mainly from the United States (85% of Canadian meat and 80% of meat from Mexico), where the slaughtering of horses was banned in 2007. “However, according to the checks carried out in 2010, 2011 and 2012 by the Food and Veterinary Office of the EU, these abattoirs are not familiar with the veterinary past of these animals. The animals are bought in the United States, but the medical passports are not there or have disappeared. These abattoirs are still not complying with EU legislation”, Staes told a small group of journalists. In June 2012, the Food Safety Agency of Belgium, detecting the presence of phenylbutazone in horsemeat, raised the alarm via the RAFF (early-warning system for food and animal feed), but the meat in question had already been exported to 6 member states.
“The European Commission knew what was going on back in 2010. There is a health risk. The Commission launched a major campaign of tests on labelling fraud.” The MEP and his Swedish colleague, Carl Schlyter, put two written questions to the Commission on 1 March and its response is anticipated for 23 March. The day before, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, had pointed out that for the time being, the problem was limited to labelling fraud and told the forum on the future of agriculture in Brussels that “no system in the world can stop people from committing illegal acts”. (AN/transl.fl)