Horsemeat scandal: fear that culprits will not face justice
The Guardian -
Concern in UK at Irish inquiry as Europe-wide investigation stalls.
Almost four months after the widespread adulteration of beef products with horsemeat was revealed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, there are growing fears in the UK that the investigation to identify the full extent of the fraud is being shut down, the Guardian has learned.
Senior sources in enforcement and the food industry have accused the Irish authorities of being more concerned to protect the Irish beef industry than to expose all the links in the chain.
“There is deep frustration. There’s a belief the FSAI must have known exactly what it was looking for, but the Irish end is in lockdown and there is not the full flow of information we’d expect. We have a sense of immense pressure to close it down,” a senior figure in UK enforcement said.
A high-profile victim in the food industry, said: “It looks as though the authorities are not going to be able to identify and prosecute any major abattoir or processor that sold undeclared horse because of a wall of silence from the Irish.”
The shadow secretary for environment and food, Mary Creagh, called for more clarity over the investigation: “The question now is what progress are both governments making to bring people to justice? Ours has gone silent. If consumers are ever to see justice both sides will have to work closely together rather than going back to business as usual.”
The beef sector is one of Ireland’s largest industries, worth nearly €2bn in 2012. It employs almost 100,000 farm families and 8,000 workers in processing.
The horsemeat scandal led to millions of burgers and ready meals being withdrawn from supermarket shelves around Europe, but enforcement agencies say that where supply chains cross jurisdictions, they are not getting enough information. Industry victims report that their own efforts to find out where their meat was coming from are being frustrated beyond the immediate suppliers with whom they had legal contracts.
Read More: guardian.co.uk
Source: http://www.oneworldchronicle.com/?p=14388
