Tainted lasagne leads to countrywide meat tests

Germany is the latest European country to find horse meat in its frozen food after two major retailers yesterday removed own-brand lasagnes from stores.

Real and Edeka, with a combined market share of about 47 per cent, said tests had revealed low levels of horse meat.

Real said in a statement it had removed the affected products from its 316 stores last Friday. Edeka said yesterday it had done the same on Tuesday after its budget-range lasagne revealed 5 per cent horse meat.

Two other retailers, Rewe and Kaisers, stopped sales of frozen lasagnes and cannelloni after manufacturers could not rule out the possibility of them also containing horse meat.

Also affected was a direct delivery frozen food company, Eismann, which stopped selling frozen lasagne last week as a precautionary measure.

Across the country, meat products were seized in refrigeration facilities and samples taken by investigators.

German coverage of the horse meat scandal has portrayed Britain as the starting point, with little or no mention of Ireland. The Süddeutsche Zeitung daily was positive, noting that “if the Irish food standards authority hadn’t discovered horse instead of beef in cheap hamburgers, the whole case wouldn’t have come to light.”