Watchdog opens proceedings after horse meat is found in Nõo Lihatööstus product

Photo: Nõo Lihatööstus

The Estonian Veterinary and Food Board has started proceedings with regard to AS Nõo Lihatööstus to establish the origin of raw material in the batch in which horse meat was found by the Latvian veterinary authority and to order a recall of the products made using meat from the said batch.

As of now the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board has not yet received formal notice via the European Union's rapid alert system, Heneli Lamp, head of the food department at the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board, told BNS. She said the proceedings were opened based on information relayed to the director by the Latvian veterinary authority.

According to information published in the media, the Latvian veterinary authority found Parmesan sausages of the Nõo brand to consist 10 percent of horse meat.

In a sausage made by the Lithuanian meatpacker Grimeda the Latvian veterinary authority found 9 percent of horse meat.

Previously the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board had detected a large percentage of horse meat in canned meat made by a Latvian company and sold in the Maxima retail chain. The product, sold as canned beef, was found to consist of horse meat to the extent of 60-100 percent.