Horse meat was distributed to seven fast food units from the warehouse in Ilfov County where the Romanian authorities found horse labeled as beef. Reportedly, the horse meat was sold in small 3 – 4 kg batches and that none of it remained at the fast food units, according to Romania's veterinary and food safety authority ANSVSA. This suggests that the horse meat may already have been sold to the public. The names of the fast food units were not disclosed.

The meat at the Ilfov warehouse had come from Alba and investigations are ongoing into exactly where the horse meat was falsely labeled.

The judiciary prefect in Alba, Gheorghe Feneşer, told Romanian newspaper Gandul that the meat appears to have come from a company in Blaj, called Ady Salve. However, it is unclear whether the company deliberately misled clients or was simply another link in the chain that unknowingly passed on horse meat as beef.

News broke late yesterday (February 20 ) that ANSVSA had found horse meat labeled as beef at a warehouse in Ilfov County. At the time, ANSVSA warned that some of the meat could have already been sold to the general public.

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

(photo source: sxc.hu)