http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/43496dda-79fa-11e2-b377-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LJiNO09v
Horsemeat scandal draws in Nestlé
By Louise Lucas, Andrea Felsted, Quentin Peel and Jim Pickard
The escalating horsemeat scandal has ensnared two of the biggest names in the food industry, Nestlé, the world’s number-one food maker, and JBS, the largest beef producer by sales.
Switzerland-based Nestlé on Monday removed pasta meals from shelves in Italy and Spain and suspended deliveries of all processed products containing meat from German supplier, H.J. Schypke, after tests revealed traces of horse DNA above 1 per cent. Nestlé said it had informed the authorities.
H.J. Schypke was subcontracted by JBS Toledo, part of Brazil-based JBS, which claims on its website “to supply the ready meals and catering industry with only the highest quality processed meat without concessions. From the selection of animals to the final packing, every facet of the production flow meets the most exacting requirements.”
JBS late on Monday moved to distance itself from the scandal, saying none of the tainted products came from its factories and clarifying that H.J. Schypke “is not in any way part of the JBS Group”.
Nestlé withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini from sale in Italy and Spain. Lasagnes à la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen meat product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn.
“We are also enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance programme by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe,” said Nestlé, which just last week said products under its labels were not affected.
The withdrawal came as the UK and Germany pledged to step up testing. In the UK senior retailers and manufacturers, at a meeting with Owen Paterson, UK environment secretary, pledged to continue testing after the initial scrutiny of beef products, which should be completed in the next two weeks.
There was a recognition, said one executive who attended the meeting, that there would be more surveillance of retailers’ supply chains, and more unannounced audits of contractors’ premises.
The 10-point plan from Germany promises to go beyond the EU programme in looking for any other undeclared additives, according to Ilse Aigner, food and agriculture minister for the federal government.
Britain’s Food Standards Agency will publish test results on a quarterly basis. Further results will be announced this Friday as the focus switches to chilled foods and grocery products such as tinned foods.
Nielsen, the consumer research group, said sales of frozen burgers in the week to February 2 fell 40 per cent, and more than two-thirds of British adults said they would be less likely to buy frozen meat products in the future.
Mr Paterson said the food industry had shown “absolute determination” to restore consumer confidence in meat.
Two people who attended the meeting described it as “constructive”. However, the minister was challenged by several people on how quickly the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Environment acted on intelligence it had received on the food supply chain. One retailer also said an attack by David Cameron on the supermarkets on Friday “had not necessarily been helpful”.
The testing, which some supermarkets already carry out, will mean extra costs for retailers at a time of weak consumer confidence.
Suppliers reckon they will end up bearing the brunt of the cost – adding to the pressure on margins which, some say, caused the problem in the first place.
“The people who in the end will suffer are the food manufacturers, because they will be forced to undertake testing. And the people with the power in this relationship on the whole are the food retailers,” said one industry player.
Many believe equine testing is just the tip of the iceberg. “I am sure this will rapidly move on to other species,” said Adam Couch, chief executive of Cranswick, a meat and pastry goods supplier, which has not been implicated in the scandal.
Amid concerns over food safety from religious and ethnic minority groups, the Muslim Council of Britain called on the community to avoid processed meat products certified by organisations that have previously certified products found to be contaminated.
Anil Bhanot, a founder member of the Hindu Council UK, told the Financial Times that the testing should not be restricted to horsemeat. “We should be worried equally for beef getting into other products,” he said. “Testing should be comprehensive and accurate.”
