Horse meat containing cancer causing drug 'may have entered food chain' says Labour

Mary Creagh, the shadow environment secretary, said that “several” horses slaughtered in the UK last year wre found to contatin traces of the carcinogen phenylbutazone.

She told the Commons: “I am in receipt of evidence showing that several horses slaughtered in UK abattoirs last year tested positive for phenylbutazone, or bute, a drug which causes cancer in humans and is banned from the human food chain.

“It is possible that those animals entered the human food chain.”

Bute is widely used as a pain killer for horses but has been linked with bone marrow and liver problems in humans.

An investigation by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found earlier this month that four British supermarkets, including Tesco, had sold burgers contaminated with horse meat.

All horses in the UK and Ireland are required to have a “passport” designed to prevent those containing potentially dangerous residues of veterinary drugs from entering the food chain.

Labour claims that the issuing of horse passports in the UK is fragmented, with 75 approved issuing organisations in the UK and no national database to track the information after it was closed by Defra.

A horse that has been treated with a veterinary drug such as bute is worthless, but with a fake passport showing no drug use it can be worth more than £300 for the meat trade.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) confirmed that EU inspectors had found chilled horse meat originating from the UK contaminated with bute on five occasions in the past year.

A spokesman said: “Horses which have been treated with phenylbutazone or bute are not allowed to enter the food chain.

“In 2012, the FSA identified five cases where horses returned non-compliant results. None of the meat had been placed for sale on the UK market. Where the meat had been exported to other countries, the relevant food safety authorities were informed.

“During the recent horse meat incident the Food Safety Authority of Ireland checked for the presence of phenylbutazone and the samples came back negative.”

Agriculture minister David Heath said the FSA checked all meat to ensure it was fit for human consumption.

“Where positive results of phenylbutazone are found the FSA investigates and takes follow-up action to trace the meat,” he told MPs.

Asked is he was aware of cases involving phenylbutazone, Mr Heath replied: “The Food Standards Agency carry out checks in slaughterhouses to ensure that equine animals presented for slaughter are fit for human consumption in the same way as they do for cattle, sheep and other animals.

“In addition, the FSA carry out subsequent testing for phenylbutazone and other veterinary medicines in meat from horses slaughtered in this country.

“Where positive results for phenylbutazone are found, the FSA investigates and takes follow-up action to trace the meat.”

Miss Creagh said she was “astonished” that he had not raised the issue earlier and said the public had a right to know about the alleged dangers.

She said it was a “very serious development” and demanded action to ensure that “illegal and carcinogenic horse meat stops entering the human food chain”.

Irish authorities said the horse meat in burgers sold in Britain came from contaminated “filler” imported from Holland and Spain.

Under British law, retailers could face fines of up to £5,000 or prison sentences for breaking European regulations about “misleading presentation of food to consumers”.

Tesco, which sold a beefburger containing 29 per cent horse meat, blamed the suppliers, saying they were either guilty of illegality or gross negligence.

Experts have warned that the meat posed a health risk because it had not come from identified sources.

Source: telegraph.co.uk