Horse meat scandal is a criminal conspiracy, says Paterson
Environment secretary Owen Paterson has said he had a “nasty feeling” the horsemeat scandal was a “criminal conspiracy”.
Paterson made the comments before facing an expected grilling by MPs, as he updated Parliament on investigations focusing on the theory European criminals may be responsible for the scandal.
“It looks as if the problem is limited to processed food and it looks as if there has been criminal substitution of beef with horse,” he said.
Paterson added that a ban on EU meat imports into the UK, as suggested by some, would be illegal under EU law.
Meanwhile, Professor Tony Hines, head of food security and crisis management at Leatherhead Food Research, advised authorities to think like criminals in the battle to uncover how thousands of tonnes of beef products became contaminated with horse meat.
Hines will be joining three other expert speakers in our free one-hour webinar on the lessons to be learned from the crisis, due to take place at 11am GMT on Thursday May 16. Book your free place here.
