Daily Lessons from Life 09 February 2013 - Horsemeat chain unclear as French lasagne maker says sorry

"Horsemeat chain unclear as French lasagne maker says sorry - AFP Feb 09, 2013

PARIS - A French meat-processing company at the centre of a Europe-wide food fraud scandal was Saturday refusing to say where it had sourced horsemeat that found its way into frozen beef products in at least three countries.

As the manufacturer of the frozen lasagne, meat sauces and other products involved in the scandal issued an apology, France's agriculture minister warned that companies found to have knowingly misled consumers would be "severely punished."

Comigel, the French company which manufactured the mislabelled products, has blamed its meat supplier, Spanghero, for the scandal and said that the horsemeat originally came from a Romanian abattoir.

But officials at Spanghero's headquarters in Castelnaudary in southwestern France refused to say where the meat had come from and whether it had passed through intermediaries, and indicated a statement would be made later in the day.

Comigel chairman Erich Lehagre meanwhile apologised to the company's customers, retailers of frozen products in more than 16 countries which include the Swedish-based brand Findus and pan-European supermarket Aldi.

"We are aware of the very strong feelings this has given rise to, particularly in Britain," he told AFP.

Comigel products have been removed from the shelves in Britain, France and Sweden.

According to Lehagre, Comigel believed it was being supplied with 100 per cent French beef from Spanghero, which is a subsidiary of Lur Berri, a Basque agricultural cooperative.

The group has 5,000 farm suppliers and turnover in excess of one billion euros, having grown quickly in recent years by diversifying into food processing.

Lehagre said Comigel, which produces its frozen products in Luxembourg but is based in Metz, France, had notified British and French authorities as soon as he had become aware of the problem.

Local food safety officials say the company handled the discovery of horsemeat appropriately but questions are now being asked as to why Findus and Aldi did not immediately order product recalls.

It remained unclear whether Spanghero could defend itself by blaming its suppliers.

France's anti-fraud body, the DGCCRF, has launched an investigation into the horsemeat scandal."

Well well well. What do you know. Such unethical and blatant disregard for safe food practices are also happening in the 'advance' Western world and NOT restricted to China or some 'less developed' or 'developing' countries!

Lessons for me are:
1. as long as there are people who ONLY focus on MAKING MONEY and nothing else, such cases will be there;

2. were there anyone who knew about this earlier but dare not or could not whistle-blow due to taboo of being a 'whistler blower' or 'an ingrate who bites the hands that feed him/her/them'? If yes, can the individual be blamed for not having the courage and sense of righteousness to disregard to real challenge of being ostracised and/or persecuted by the 'insiders'? It is easy to blame an individual for not having the courage to whistle blow. At the same time, the organizational culture and structure that does not support a whistle-blower cannot expect much too!;

3. hopefully the horse meats are from healthy horses. If not, the incident will become even more complicated. It will be interesting to find out WHO was/were the initial instigator(s) and WHAT was/were he/she/they thinking?!!

Before I ends, may I wish all the people who celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year a Healthy, Happy, Prosperous and Purposeful Year of the Water Snake! While those who don't, just enjoy the Chinese LNY holiday break!