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| Poland's chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the suspect beef was exported (AFP Photo/CHARLY TRIBALLEAU) |
Warsaw (AFP) - Several EU countries on Friday seized and destroyed suspect beef from a Polish slaughterhouse where allegedly sick cows were butchered, despite assurances from Warsaw that the meat did not pose a health risk.
Poland's
chief veterinarian Pawel Niemczuk confirmed that 2.7 tonnes of the suspect beef
was exported, while the European Commission said the meat was traced to 13
member states where it was being withdrawn and destroyed.
The scare
recalls a 2013 scandal in which horsemeat was passed off as beef and used in
ready-to-eat meals sold across Europe.
Brussels
will send a team of auditors to Poland to assess the situation on the spot,
said Anca Paduraru, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.
French
authorities said 795 kilogrammes (1,750 pounds) of beef from the slaughterhouse
-- which has now been closed -- had been imported.
More than
500 kilogrammes have already been seized and destroyed, said France's
Directorate General of Food.
French
Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said nine French companies had been
"duped" into importing beef from the abattoir in Kalinowo, a village
some 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Warsaw.
Lame or
diseased?
Portuguese
authorities said they had destroyed 99 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef,
while Romania said it had eliminated 1,432 kilogrammes as a "safety
measure".
Sweden's National Food Agency said that just under 100 kilogrammes of the total 239 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef delivered to the country had already been consumed, while the rest has been seized.
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The cows
were slaughtered late at night when veterinary authorities were
unlikely to
visit (AFP Photo/ADRIEN MORLENT)
|
Sweden's National Food Agency said that just under 100 kilogrammes of the total 239 kilogrammes of suspect Polish beef delivered to the country had already been consumed, while the rest has been seized.
The beef
was also exported to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain, according to the European Commission.
Niemczuk
said another seven tonnes were sold to about 20 outlets in Poland but insisted
that tests found it did not pose a health risk.
Despite the
assurances, Polish beef producers are reeling from the scandal with prices
falling by around seven percent since an undercover TV report on the slaughter
was aired on Saturday.
"All
segments of the Polish (beef) market are worried," Jerzy Wierzbicki, head
of the Polish PZPBM meat producers' association, told AFP on Friday.
Wierzbicki
insisted that the cows shown in the report by the TVN24 commercial news channel
were lame but not diseased.
"They
were lame cows... such cattle should not be taken to a slaughterhouse but
should rather be put down on the farm by a person who is qualified to do
so," Wierzbicki said.
'Isolated case'
 |
A criminal
probe was launched after a TV report aired footage of apparently sick
or lame
cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered in Poland (AFP
Photo/
Janek SKARZYNSKI)
|
'Isolated case'
"This
is an isolated case, concerning a single company, the concerns are
unfounded," he said, conceding that the scandal could deal a blow to
Polish beef producers who rely on exports.
A leading
pork supplier in the European Union, Poland also produced some 415,000 tonnes
of beef last year and nearly 90 percent of it was exported, Wierzbicki said.
Poland's
Agriculture Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said on Friday that
"pathologies" in the agri-food industry would be "cauterised
with a hot iron".
"A
police investigation is underway regarding the owners of the slaughterhouse and
anyone involved in this process," he said, adding that there was
"zero tolerance" for anything that could harm Polish exports.
The
criminal probe was launched after TVN24 aired footage of apparently sick or
lame cows being dragged across the floor and then butchered.
The TVN24
report said dealers bought lame or sick cattle at much lower prices. A
journalist working undercover at the abattoir used a hidden camera to film the
secret late night slaughter when veterinary authorities were unlikely to visit.
The
European Commission has not commented on the quality of the meat in question,
but issued a statement that raised concerns about the treatment of the sick
animals, which it insisted could not be considered fit for human consumption.
"The
practice of dragging animals unable to walk, as described (in the Polish
report) is prohibited by European Union legislation on the protection of
animals in slaughterhouses," it said.
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