The horse meat scandal has spread to Romania's domestic market after testing by the authorities uncovered a batch of horse meat labeled as beef. It appears at this stage that the meat was for the local market, not for export, and although Deputy Agriculture Minister Achim Irimescu said the consignment of falsely labeled horse meat was found in Ilfov County, he did not give details of exactly who or which companies were responsible.

Inspectors from Romania's food safety and veterinary authority ANSVSA discovered that the meat originated in Alba and have ordered the withdrawal of products distributed to retailers. ANSVSA representatives say that some of the meat may have made it to the shops and are continuing their investigations.

Romanian authorities have been testing meat in the country in the wake of the widening horse meat scandal. After horse meat was discovered in Ireland and soon after the UK, more and more EU countries have discovered mislabeled meat. A French company involved initially blamed Romanian suppliers for selling horse as beef, but investigations found that the local abattoirs concerned had openly sold horse meat and that the false labeling had occurred further down the supply chain.

editor@romania-insider.com