Britain's Environment Secretary is calling for a Europe-wide overhaul of food testing in the wake of the horsemeat scandal.
Owen Paterson says the current system relies too heavily on trusting paperwork that comes with meat shipments. Traces of horsemeat have turned up across Europe in frozen supermarket meals such as burgers and lasagne, as well as in fresh beef pasta sauce.
Millions of products have been pulled from store shelves in Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Supermarkets and food suppliers have been told to test all processed beef products for horse DNA.
Paterson said, "Nobody checks what’s on the pallet often enough, nobody checks what’s in production often enough, nobody checks the finished product often enough. And what I have agreed, I’ve talked to Commissioner Borg about this... We have agreed that in this particular issue there will be Europe-wide testing for horse DNA, there will be Europe-wide testing for bute which is a major advance."
Horsemeat itself is not dangerous to eat, though it is widely considered taboo in Britain and Ireland. But bute, or phenyl-buta-zone, a painkiller and anti-inflammatory used on horses, is considered harmful to human health if ingested.
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