Call to name horse meat scare firm

Thursday 7 March 2013

The Government was urged today to name a meat producer behind a horse meat scare in food supplied to schools and the Armed Forces.

Catering giant Sodexo withdrew beef from its UK sites last month after a frozen product tested positive for horse DNA.

Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said ministers knew the name of Sodexo's supplier and called for the information to be made public so other organisations could check whether they were affected.

But ministers said the name should remain secret in case its disclosure hampered investigations into the "criminal conspiracy" involved in beef adulteration.At Commons question time she said: "On February 22 Sodexo announced it had found horse meat in a beef product and withdrew meat from schools in Gloucestershire, Southampton and Leicestershire and the Armed Forces."Sodexo has refused publicly to name the products, the level of horse adulteration or the meat company which supplied it, thereby preventing other organisations from knowing whether their supplies are at risk."She told Environment Secretary Owen Paterson: "The Government knows the name of that meat supplier. Will you now name that company so the rest of the public sector can check their supplies?"Mr Paterson said: "I discussed this issue yesterday with the chief executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), who is completely satisfied that the information required from Sodexo has been supplied."There is an investigation going on and in some of these cases it might lead to criminal prosecution."He added that the FSA had to be "guarded" about what information was revealed "in case the investigations are impinged upon".Ms Creagh said Mr Paterson "has a duty to tell the public what he knows".Mr Paterson said: "In the case of an investigation which might grow criminal, it would not be sensible to reveal names of suppliers."This is a criminal conspiracy which covers 23 countries and it does not help the police to arrive at prosecutions if information is revealed."

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Call to name horse meat scare firm

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