近期席卷欧洲的“马肉丑闻”又有新进展,雀巢公司生产的两款冷冻意粉产品被检出有马肉成分,含量虽不高,但超过了1%。该公司立即开始在意大利和西班牙召回这两款产品,另外一款产自法国的冷冻产品也被召回。雀巢公司网站发布的一份声明表示,已查出这些产品的肉类供应商来自德国,并称此事虽不涉及食品安全问题,但产品标签有误说明这些产品未能达到消费者期望的高标准。除将有关产品下架以外,雀巢公司还表示“将加强现有的综合质量保障体系,对所有即将在欧洲进行加工的牛肉增加马肉DNA检测程序”。“马肉丑闻”已波及英国、法国、德国、瑞士等12个欧洲国家,英国和德国近期均表示要建立冷冻食品检测机制。
Nestle is the latest in a string of major food producers to find traces of horsemeat in beef meals. |
The Swiss-based firm has halted deliveries of products containing meat from a German supplier.
Nestle is the latest in a string of major food producers to find traces of horsemeat in beef meals.
A spokesman for the company said levels of horse DNA were very low but above 1%.
Last week the firm said its products did not contain horsemeat.
Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain.
Lasagnes a la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn.
A spokesman for the company told the BBC that Nestle had identified a problem with a supplier from Germany.
A statement on the Nestle website identified the supplier as HJ Schypke, a sub-contractor of JBS Toledo, a major meat processing company based in Belgium.
"There is no food safety issue, but the mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," the statement said.
In addition to removing the three affected products from sale, Nestle would be "enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance program by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe", it added.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the news that the world's biggest food producer is now having to withdraw some foods, shows the problem is far wider than previously thought and, critics say, how dangerously unregulated the food industry has become.
The widening scandal over mislabeled horsemeat has affected at least 12 European countries, including Switzerland, where the retailer Co-op - famous for its broad range of organic, locally-sourced food - was on Monday forced to remove nine different products from its shelves.
Last Wednesday, the company said it had found horsemeat in its own-brand frozen lasagne produced by the Comigel food processing company in France.
Co-op now faces possible charges of negligence from the Swiss authorities.
France meanwhile partially lifted a production ban for another meat processing firm, Spanghero.
The French government revoked its license last week over suspicions that Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labeled as beef, an allegation the company rejects.
The French authorities said that unwitting workers should not be penalized.
As a result the firm will be allowed to produce minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals, but not to stock frozen meat.
Meanwhile the UK and Germany have also both pledged to step up testing of frozen food products.
(Source: BBC)
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