Latvian-made canned beef found containing horse meat

Photo: Teet Malsroos/Õhtuleht

Tests performed at a German laboratory revealed that canned beef produced by the Latvian company Kursu Zeme sold in stores of the Maxima chain in Estonia consisted largely of horse meat.

Horse meat was found in the canned beef product "Beef stewed military quality" of the Latvian company Kursu Zeme, spokespeople for the food authority said on Friday.

While not providing the exact percentage, the lab said the product contains horse meat to the extent of 60 to 100 percent, the director general of the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board, Ago Pärtel, told BNS.

Thus either horse meat in large amounts had been added to beef in the production process or horse meat had been used instead of beef, he said.

The 320-gram cans were made on Dec. 12 last year and their best before date is Dec. 12, 2014.

"Acting on a notice received via the RASFF early warning system, the Harju County Veterinary Center halted the sale of the said cans on March 6 and ordered the importer to recall the products," Pärtel said.

By now the importer has returned to the producer 7,200 cans of meat originating in different batches.

Horse meat not shown as an ingredient on the label has been detected in products of the same manufacturer also in Germany and Lithuania.

Maxima's PR officer said Friday evening that the company suspended sale of all canned meat products of Kursu Zeme at the beginning of March due to the information received from Lithuania. "So as to secure the quality and proper labeling of the goods sold at our stores, Maxima will not sell products of the Latvian manufacturer Kursu Zeme until the circumstances are clear. For further decisions regarding supply additional information is needed about how horse meat got into canned beef," he said in a press release.

The Maxima chain will step up quality control regarding all suppliers and producers of meat products, the spokesman added.

The Estonian Veterinary and Food Board at the beginning of March took ten samples from meat products sold in Estonia which according to labels contained no horse meat.

"No horse meat was detected in hamburger patties of Swedish, Polish and Irish origin, in hinkali of Latvian origin, in pasta sauces of Italian origin, in canned beef of French origin, in minced meat of Polish origin, and in canned beef produced by two Latvian companies," Partel said in a press release.