The Polish meat industry is once again back in the spotlight over the horsemeat scandal, following reports that horsemeat found at German suppliers came from Poland.
According to a report by Der Spiegel, two German suppliers implicated in the scandal – Dreistern-Konserven and Vossko – both sourced meat from Poland.
In Dreistern’s case, the meat came from one of the Polish companies that had earlier been connected to horse DNA being found in Irish-made frozen burgers, while Vossko bought 20 tonnes of frozen beef mince worth about €60,000 from another Polish supplier via a Danish intermediary, Der Spiegel claimed.
Dreistern’s beef goulash, which was sold by Lidl and Aldi in Germany, among others, was found to contain horse DNA two weeks ago, while Vossko was blamed by Liechtenstein-based Hilcona AG for supplying raw material contaminated with horse for a filled pasta product sold in Austria and Germany.
Both companies have denied knowingly handling horsemeat and have launched investigations into their own supply chains.
The allegations against Poland come as Germany has recently become the new focus of investigations into how undeclared horsemeat ended up in products across Europe, with a number of German suppliers blamed for supplying contaminated products sold in different European countries.
Aside from Dreistern and Vossko, a third German supplier – J.H. Schypke – was drawn into the scandal when Nestlé claimed horse DNA contamination in its products had been traced back to “mislabelled” raw material supplied by the company. Schypke, too, has denied handling horsemeat.
At the end of January, the Irish government said it had traced back the horse DNA found in Irish-made frozen burgers to Poland. Polish authorities have rejected accusations that Polish companies falsely labelled horsemeat as beef, and investigations by Irish and Polish authorities continue.
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