Horsemeat: Test Results Expected On UK Meals

15 February 2013, 08:05 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Test results for horse meat in British processed meals are due, as detectives continue questioning three men, including one in West Yorkshire, arrested in connection with the mis-labelling scandal.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) will report on the UK products after asking retailers and suppliers to provide "meaningful results'' from tests to detect the presence of horse meat in processed meals labelled as beef.

The FSA said it wanted the food industry to show the food it sells and serves is what it says it is on the label.

The test results, for significant levels of horse meat, will come from all beef products such as burgers, meatballs and lasagne.

Prime Minister David Cameron reportedly believes supermarkets have been too silent on the scandal.

A senior No10 source told the Daily Telegraph:
"It is not acceptable for retailers to remain silent while their customers have been misled. The supermarkets need to justify their action and reassure the public.''

The eagerly-awaited test results will emerge as police in Wales probe three men arrested on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

The trio were taken into custody from two plants inspected and temporarily shut down by the FSA on Tuesday.

Sources said 64-year-old Dafydd Raw-Rees, owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, was arrested along with a 42-year-old man.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

On Wednesday, owner Mr Boddy, said he had done nothing wrong and insisted the FSA inspection was merely to look at his records, but was on Thursday night unavailable for comment.

His firm is also contracted to remove fatally injured horses from the Grand National.

It removes the carcasses of some horses which have been put down during the world famous meeting, Aintree Racecourse, and said it was "confident'' no unfit meat had entered the food chain.