Europe horsemeat scandal spreads to Asia

Europe's horsemeat scandal spread Wednesday to Asia where an imported lasagne brand was pulled from the shelves in Hong Kong, as Czech officials ordered similar action on frozen meals mislabelled "beef". A host of top players have been caught up in the spiralling scandal including Nestle, the world's biggest food company, top beef producer JBS of Brazil and British supermarket chain Tesco. Hong Kong authorities ordered ParknShop, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the city, to remove lasagne made by frozen food giant Findus, one of the firms at the centre of the scandal. The product was imported from Britain and made by French firm Comigel. Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety said the item "might be adulterated with horsemeat which has not undergone tests for veterinary drugs". "The product was removed from our stores last week following the government's instructions," a ParknShop spokeswoman told AFP. The chain, owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing, has about 280 stores in Hong Kong and the neighbouring gaming hub of Macau. A spokeswoman at the government's food and environmental hygiene department said only one contaminated product had so far been sold in Hong Kong. In Europe, the Czech Republic became the latest country embroiled in the affair, with food inspectors ordering Tesco to withdraw Nowaco brand frozen "beef" lasagne after detecting horsemeat. The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority said it had found horse DNA in two samples of the Nowaco meals manufactured by the Tavola company in Luxembourg. Inspectors "ordered the seller to immediately withdraw the products from its network," the authority said in a statement. "The producer is Tavola S.A. based in Luxembourg and the importer and distributor is Nowaco," Czech food authority spokesman Pavel Kopriva told AFP. "So it was made by Tavola in Luxembourg and put in Nowaco's packages." "We are very sorry about the situation and we will discuss the matter with the supplier," Tesco spokesman Jan Dvorak told the CTK news agency, adding the chain had protectively withdrawn the product earlier. Supermarkets in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Austria, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia have all removed meals from shelves. The Czech authority noted that horsemeat is sold for human consumption in the country, but that if not mentioned on the product label it was misleading to consumers and could lead to a fine of up to three million koruna (118,000 euros, $159,000). Spanghero, the French firm that sparked the food alert by allegedly passing off 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef, was on Monday allowed to resume production of minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals. But the company, whose horsemeat found its way into 4.5 million "beef" products sold across Europe, will no longer be allowed to stock frozen meat. Under the ban it cannot act as middleman between slaughterhouses and food-processing companies, the situation which allegedly allowed it to change labels on horsemeat from Romania and sell it on as beef. The firm's sanitary licence was suspended last Thursday after it was accused of passing off huge quantities of mislabelled meat over a period of six months. Investigators on Wednesday conducted a second day of raids on Spanghero's headquarters in Castelnaudary in southern France, a source close to the probe said, adding they had already seized several documents and copied computer records. About 60 workers from French company Fraisnor, which produces fresh lasagne, demonstrated on Wednesday in the northern town of Feuchy for state financial aid, saying their sales had dived 70 percent after the scandal. The company, which manufactures about 700 tonnes of fresh lasagne a month, is on the point of laying off some of its employees. A horse is displayed at the annual horse market in Skaryszew, Poland, on February 18, 2013. Europe's horsemeat scandal spread Wednesday to Asia where an imported lasagne brand was pulled from the shelves in Hong Kong, as Czech officials ordered similar action on frozen meals mislabelled "beef". A ParknShop supermarket van is shown in Hong Kong in May 2003. Lasagne made by frozen food giant Findus was being sold at supermarkets run by ParknShop, one of the biggest supermarket chains in the southern Chinese city and owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing. A sample of a noodle product with meat is DNA-tested in a laboratory on February 19, 2013 in Berlin. A host of top players have been caught up in the spiralling horsemeat scandal including Nestle, the world's biggest food company, top beef producer JBS of Brazil and British supermarket chain Tesco. Butcher Peter Wisker cuts meat at his horse meat butchery in Haarlem in the Netherlands on February 13, 2013. Supermarkets in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Austria, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Slovenia have all removed meals from shelves over undeclared horsemeat content.