French firm blamed for fake labels on horsemeat; scandal now involves 13 countries
The French meat wholesaler Spanghero is to blame for fraudulently labelling horsemeat as beef, a minister says.
Benoit Hamon, the French economy minister, says Spanghero officials were fully aware that the cheaper horsemeat was mislabelled.
The agriculture minister said the company has been immediately suspended.
A French investigation has found that the horsemeat scandal has spread to involve 13 countries and 28 companies.
Mr Hamon said a total of 750 tons of horsemeat was involved.
He said Spanghero had received a shipment of horsemeat from a Dutch middleman and passed it off as beef upon reselling it to a frozen food processor.
He also said the processor, Comigel, should have realised the problem as soon as the meat was thawed if they had not already noticed the questionable paperwork.
