Horsemeat Found In Beef From Hungary

Lancashire County Council has found 100kg of horsemeat in a consignment of beef from Hungary, with 30kg of it already sold to the public.

The meat was imported by Hungarian Food Ltd in Preston and sold on its market stall in the town and a shop in Liverpool called Taste of Hungary, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said.

It said the horse flesh was being sold in 1kg bags labelled as "diced beef". The remaining unsold meat has been withdrawn from sale.

A FSA spokesman said the European Commission and the Hungarian authorities had been informed and the meat will be tested for the veterinary drug bute as part of the council's investigations.

The manager of the Taste of Hungary deli ate some of the horsemeat he bought, thinking it was beef, he said.

Attila Fabian, who runs the Eastern European store in Waterloo, Merseyside, said he was shocked to have discovered he had been selling the meat when environmental health officers visited the shop.

He said he had bought 20 1kg bags of what he thought was diced beef from Hungarian Food Ltd in May last year, rather than import it directly, but it sold so badly that he took four or five bags home for his family.

"I didn't know about it," he said.

"It tasted like beef, it looked like beef.

"I was shocked today when environmental health told what happened exactly."

He said they sold 12 or so bags of the horsemeat, and there were still three bags in the freezer which were taken away today for tests.

He said the shop had ceased trading with Hungarian Food Ltd after they "fell out" in July last year.

The food scandal erupted in January with horsemeat DNA being found in school dinners and supermarket products across the country.