Bad French horse meat sold to Dutch consumers

About 24,000 pounds of French horse meat from 200 slaughter horses that did not pass the health inspection, was sold on the Dutch market, reported State Secretary Sharon Dijksma of Economic Affairs to Parliament on Monday. The horses originated from French centers for horse-riding, pharmaceutical laboratories, and private owners. Photo by dottorpeni/Wikimedia Commons Although they were slaughtered in 2013, and distributed to five Dutch companies between January and October, the fraud was only discovered last month in France, when fraud with horse passports came to light, according to Dijkema. Attempts of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to track down the meat, have so far not had any success. None of the five companies have any of the meat left in stock. The health risks are minimal, according to the NVWA and the French authorities.