The Foods Standards Agency and police have raided two meat plants, one in West Yorkshire and one in Wales and suspended operations at both.
The Agency says it believes Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire supplied horse carcases to Farmbox Meats Ltd., in Aberystwyth. All meat at the companies has been detained and paperwork seized, including customer lists from the two businesses.
Andrew Rhodes, FSA director of operations, said: "I ordered an audit of all horse producing abattoirs in the UK after this issue first arose last month and I was shocked to uncover what appears to be a blatant misleading of consumers. I have suspended both plants immediately while our investigations continue."
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said: “This is absolutely shocking. It’s totally unacceptable if any business in the UK is defrauding the public by passing off horsemeat as beef. I expect the full force of the law to be brought down on anyone involved in this kind of activity.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
