The horse meat scandal has spread to Asia.
The horse meat scandal in Europe on February 20th has spread to Asia, with an imported brand of meat pies being pulled from shelves in Hong Kong and the Czech Republic.
Officials have ordered a halt to the sale of frozen meat products labeled "beef."
A beef aisle displays a "no horse meat" pledge at a supermarket in central England - Photo: Reuters
A number of major companies have been drawn into the scandal, including Nestle – the world's largest food company, Brazil's leading beef producer JBS, and the British supermarket chain Tesco.
According to AFP, Hong Kong authorities have ordered ParknShop, one of the city's largest supermarket chains, to withdraw all meat pies from frozen food giant Findus, one of the companies at the center of the scandal. These products are imported from the UK and manufactured by the French company Comigel.
The Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety said the product “may have been adulterated with horse meat that had not undergone veterinary inspection.” “The product was withdrawn from our shelves last week following instructions from authorities,” AFP quoted a ParknShop spokesperson as saying. The supermarket chain, owned by tycoon Li Ka Shing, has around 280 stores in Hong Kong and Macau.
In Europe, the Czech Republic is the latest country to be embroiled in a scandal, as food inspectors forced Tesco to remove Nowaco-branded beef pies from its shelves after discovering horse meat in them. The Czech agricultural and food inspection agency announced they found horse DNA in two samples of Nowaco products manufactured by Tavola in Luxembourg.
Supermarkets in Belgium, the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Slovenia had previously taken similar action. Czech authorities say selling horse meat for human consumption is legal in the country, but failure to disclose the ingredients in the food could result in fines of up to 3 million koruna (over $157,000).
According to Tuoi Tre - DT
