Coveney: EU Commission proposal to horse meat crisis expected

EU Agriculture Ministers have arrived in Brussels this evening to discuss the horsemeat scandal.

The meeting which is being chaired by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney will focus on the steps needed to bring the controversy to an end.

Earlier the European Union Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said monitoring meat production is a matter for individual governments and not the EU.

He says if there is horsemeat in hamburgers or lasagne there should have been a label indicating this.

France has called for precise labeling on the origin of meat in ready-made dishes.

Yesterday supermarkets in Switzerland and the Netherlands became the latest to pull ready-made meals as anger grows across Europe.

‘Investigation focused on fraud labeling’

Mr. Borg said the monitoring of meat production is a matter for individual governments and not the EU as a single institution.

“We have to rely on the enforcement agencies; sometime we can do verifications of how efficient those national enforcement agencies are” he said.

“But the actual frontline enforcement is done by member states, and I think it will remain so at least for the immediate future” he added.

Speaking in Brussels, Minister Simon Coveney says a Europe-wide effort is needed to tackle the crisis.

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