Horse meat scandal in Britain likely to worsen, says environment ministry

Britain’s ongoing contaminated meat scandal is set to intensify as the British environment ministry issued a warning stating that more ready meals contaminated with horse meat are expected to be found over the coming few weeks.

The warning was released following a meeting which included the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Food Standards Agency, and representatives from the food industry.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said that major retailers and food distributers were called to agree a clear plan of urgent action to deal with the problem of horsemeat in processed beef products, and to publish test results every three months through the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

"The retailers and industry bodies agreed to my proposal that they work with the FSA on making checks further down the food chain," Paterson said.

"They have also agreed to let the FSA know as soon they become aware of a potential problem in their products," he added.

Meanwhile, supermarkets across Britain, France and Sweden have begun removing a number of packages containing beef lasagna, spaghetti, burgers as well as various other products from shelves immediately after tests currently being carried out identified that some products contained nearly 100% horsemeat.