Horsemeat is sold legally in France;

Horsemeat scandal: Comigel is huge exporter of French frozen meals

Some Findus UK beef lasagnes have been found to contain up to 100% horsemeat. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

The French food company at the centre of the horsemeat scandal specialises in pre-prepared frozen dishes, a third of which are exported. Comigel, based in the north-eastern town of Metz, supplies tens of thousands of tonnes of frozen meals to around 15 countries.

It was the manufacturer of the Findus frozen lasagnes, some of which contained up to 100% horsemeat.

Comigel had alerted British food distributors about its doubts over the "conformity of specifications" on certain products, namely lasagnes and spaghetti dishes made supposedly with beef and sold by Tesco, Aldi and other UK supermarkets. The warning suggested the beef was in fact horsemeat. Findus said on Friday it was alerted by Comigel last Saturday.

Erick Lehagre, director of Comigel, did not make any statements on Friday and was said to be unavailable for comment. Comigel risks being subject to large fines as a result of the scandal, even if it is discovered that the alleged fraud has been committed by its suppliers.

The Comigel group makes its ready-made frozen food at its Tavola factory in Capellen, Luxembourg. This site employs 200 people who produce at least 16,000 tonnes of frozen dishes in aluminium trays. These dishes are then sold to food chains like Tesco and in France Cora and Auchan. These groups then sell the products under different brand names.

One quarter of the factory's output goes to restaurants in schools, colleges, hospitals, retirement homes, company canteens and public service restaurants.

On Friday morning, Comigel's website was taken down and a note saying it was under construction placed over pictures of some of the company's food products, among them a lasagne.

In 2010, Comigel was said to employ 200 people. In 2009, it reported an annual turnover of €60m(£51m), a third of which was in exports mainly to the Benelux countries, Germany, Scandinavia and eastern European countries. Its offices are in Metz but its production site run by its 100%-owned subsidiary Tavola, is in neighbouring Luxembourg.

Its sister company, Atlantique Alimentaire, which also makes and distributes frozen food, based in La Rochelle, employs 240 people and had a €41m turnover in 2009. In a Lorraine regional business directory Comigel describes itself as a "specialist in prepared frozen products for brand distribution".

"Since 1976 our sales teams have been active in developing, offering and proposing a wide range of frozen food products adapted to today's various consumer trends.

"Over the years we have specialised in the fabrication and commercialisation of prepared frozen products for brand distribution. Our savoir-faire is recognised by all of our partners and has allowed us to position ourselves as a major and unbeatable player in our markets."

Horsemeat is sold legally in France; there are around 15 "chevalines" – butchers selling horsemeat – in Paris and another in Lyon. Fans argue it is more tender, lower in fat and higher in protein than beef.

The custom of eating horses spread across Europe in the 19th century because of their prevalence as a mode of transport and following several famines.

The Ministry of Agriculture in Romania - to where the horsemeat has been traced - has launched an inquiry after two of its abattoirs

The Ministry of Agriculture in Romania - to where the horsemeat has been traced - has launched an inquiry after two of its abattoirs LONDON: A Europe-wide food fraud scandalover horsemeat sold as beef deepened on Saturday as two companies at the centre of the row took legal action and governments said criminal activity was suspected. 

Frozen food giant Findus lodged a legal complaint in France after evidence showed the presence of horse in its beef lasagne was "not accidental", while a French meat-processing firm said it would sue its Romanian supplier. 

Romania — to where the horsemeat has been traced after a complex trail leading through Cyprus and The Netherlands that The Sun newspaper in Britain dubbed a "hoofdunnit" — announced an urgent inquiry into two abattoirs. 

Britain said this week that the Findus lasagne and two meals sold by supermarket chain Aldi contained up to 100 per cent horsemeat, and products containing horse have subsequently been found in France and Sweden. 

The consumption of horsemeat is particularly taboo in Britain, whose environment minister Owen Paterson on Saturday took the reins of a crisis meeting of retailers and officials amid growing public concern. 

"This is a conspiracy against the public. Selling a product as beef and including a lot of horse in it is fraud," Paterson said after the meeting. 

British authorities have said they are testing to see whether the horsemeat contains a veterinary drug that can be dangerous to humans. They have also refused to rule out that horsemeat could be found in school meals. 

The Findus and Aldi meals were assembled by French food manufacturer Comigel using meat that was provided by Spanghero, a meat-processing company also based in France. 

Spanghero in turn is said to have obtained the meat from an abattoir in Romania, via a Cypriot dealer who had subcontracted the deal to a trader in The Netherlands. 

French frozen food company Picard said on Saturday it had also withdrawn two lines of lasagne made by Comigel for analysis. 

Comigel chairman Erich Lehagre said it believed it was being supplied with 100 per cent French beef from Spanghero. "We are aware of the very strong feelings this has given rise to, particularly in Britain," he told AFP. 

Findus initiated legal proceedings on Saturday but did not identify an alleged culprit, in a criminal complaint lodged against persons unknown with the authorities in France. 

In Britain, Findus said it was taking legal advice over "what they believe is their suppliers' failure to meet contractual obligations about product integrity." 

"The early results from Findus UK's internal investigation strongly suggest that the horsemeat contamination in beef lasagne was not accidental," it said in a statement. 

Separately Spanghero — which was set up by two former French rugby players — said it would sue the Romanian supplier on the grounds that it mislabelled the horsemeat but refused to identify the supplier. 

"We bought European origin beef and we resold it. If it really is horsemeat, we are going to go after the Romanian supplier," Spanghero chairman Barthelemy Aguerre told AFP. 

But France's junior economy minister Benoit Hamon said that Poujol, the holding company of Spanghero, "acquired the frozen meat from a Cypriot trader who had subcontracted the order to a trader located in The Netherlands, who in turn was supplied by an abattoir ... in Romania." 

Romania's agriculture ministry said Saturday that it would launch an inquiry into shipments of meat to France after French authorities said two Romanian abattoirs were implicated in the horsemeat scandal. 

"If it finds that the meat came from Romania and that the law has been broken, the culprits will be punished," the Romanian ministry said in a statement to AFP, adding however that the origin of the meat had not yet been proven. 

The lasagne scandal has blown up in the wake of a similar discovery last month relating to the content of "beef" burgers in Britain and Ireland, both countries where consumers have an aversion to the idea of eating horses. 

On Saturday, the Cyprus veterinary service said it had launched a probe into whether burgers containing horsemeat have reached Cyprus from Ireland. 

Horsemeat is still eaten in many parts of Europe where it is considered leaner and healthier than beef. 

However, food safety experts fear some unregulated meat could contain traces of a widely used veterinary painkiller, phenylbutazone, which can cause a serious blood disorder in humans in rare cases.

contaminated meat

More cases of contaminated meat may be revealed within days, the Government has warned as it raised fears that an international criminal conspiracy was behind the horse meat scandal.

The warning came as The Independent newspaper claimed up to one in 30 horses being exported to Europe for consumption could contain traces of a drug known as Bute which is harmful to humans.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said the next set of results on all retailers' and manufacturers' processed beef products could reveal further traces of horse meat.

"There may well be more bad results coming through, that's the point of doing this random analysis," Mr Paterson said.

The results, ordered by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), are due on Friday.

But David Clarke, chief executive of Red Tractor Assurance, a food guarantee scheme that covers British production standards, urged people to put the scandal into perspective.

Paterson: 'Prepare for more bad news'

He told Sky News: "The news in the last three weeks has been of great concern to consumers. But to get it in perspective it is only affected a small part of the food that is in the shops.

"I would hope that all of the fresh meat that people are eating for Sunday lunch today should not be affected by this."

Mr Clarke added that the food industry had learnt lessons from the last few weeks, namely that "this very cheap processed meat produced with raw materials that are traded all across the world, all across Europe, is potentially a problem".

Meanwhile, one of the food companies at the centre of the horsemeat scandal has said it is considering taking legal action against its suppliers.

Frozen foods firm Findus, which has taken its beef lasagnes off shelves after some were found to have up to 100% horse meat in them, said it was looking into legal action as an internal investigation "strongly suggests" that the contamination "was not accidental".

The Ministry of Agriculture in Romania - to where the horsemeat has been traced - has launched an inquiry after two of its abattoirs were implicated in the scandal.

The Environment Secretary also revealed retailers have agreed plans to improve their food testing, adding that they hold the "ultimate responsibility" for making sure their products do not contain horse meat.

Mr Paterson was speaking after attending an emergency meeting with bosses from leading supermarkets, trade bodies and the FSA on Saturday to discuss the scandal which has seen chains including Tesco, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland withdraw some products.

He said supermarkets and trade bodies had already begun plans to carry out more testing and report their results on a quarterly basis.

Aldi has withdrawn products containing horsemeat

They had also agreed that consumers should be compensated for buying withdrawn products with no questions asked, he said.

Mr Paterson added: "It's a question of either gross incompetence, but as I've said publicly and I'll repeat again, I'm more concerned there's actually an international criminal conspiracy here, and we've really got to get to the bottom of it."

But shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh accused the Government of being too slow to act.

She told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan: "I think ministers have been completely behind the curve. Owen Paterson should have ordered tests on those burgers when they were withdrawn three weeks ago.

"We'd now been in a position to tell consumers how far the adulteration has gone, whether they're able to trust processed meat."

Scotland Yard have met representatives from the FSA, although there is currently no official police investigation.

The Trading Standards Institute has said the discovery of such high levels of horse meat suggests "deliberate fraudulent activity".

Food safety experts have said there is no risk to public health.

Tesco and Aldi have also withdrawn a range of ready meals produced by Comigel over fears that they contained contaminated meat.

The GMB union said all hospitals, schools and meals-on-wheels services should verify that horse meat had not been served to vulnerable people.

Responding to fears that school dinners might be contaminated with horsemeat, the Department for Education said schools and councils were responsible for their food contracts.

A spokeswoman for the Local Authority Caterers Association said: "We are as sure as we can be that this is not affecting the school catering area."

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