Portugal seizes 87t of beef over horsemeat concerns

Portuguese authorities have announced that they have seized 87t of beef products that contained traces of horsemeat.

The country’s Food Safety Agency said in a statement that it has withdrawn nearly 19,000 pre-packed beef products, such as lasagne, hamburgers and meatballs, from Portuguese stores over horsemeat contamination.

The agency made the seizures at companies which process, package and distribute meat to major retail outlets.

The Portuguese health and safety police (ASAE) has also launched five criminal proceedings after evaluation of 134 samples revealed that 13 of them were positive for horsemeat.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have found traces of horsemeat in a shipment of pork sausages imported from Austria.

According to Russia’s agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, laboratory analysis on a shipment of Frankfurter sausages observed the presence of horse DNA, along with chicken, cattle and soya.

In addition, furniture retailer IKEA has withdrawn hotdogs from its in-store restaurants over horsemeat concerns; the retailer said that no horsemeat has been found in its hotdogs but it is taking precautionary measures until further testing is completed.

Recently, supermarkets across Britain, France and Sweden removed a number of packages containing beef lasagne, spaghetti, burgers as well as various other products from shelves immediately after tests identified that some products contained nearly 100% horsemeat.

The food scandal began after horsemeat was detected in frozen meals and burgers in the UK and Ireland in January 2013.

An FSAI study, which tested a number of beef products for the presence of horse and pig DNA, identified horsemeat in several beef products in the UK and Ireland.