Pasta sales in Europe have been forging ahead as the recession forces cash-strapped consumers to cut down on their spending on such items as fresh meat, fish, fruit, and fresh produce and pastry products.
That’s good news for the pasta industry but it applies only to the dried, uncooked variety such as spaghetti and penne. The bad news is that frozen pasta used in prepared meals has become a disaster area as a result of the horsemeat scandal. In January 2013, testing in Ireland showed some beef products also contained equine genetic material. Tests in France came up with the same results and since then the problem has spread throughout Europe involving numerous well-known brands, prompting product withdrawals, consumer concerns and government investigations into the region’s complex food-processing chains. Dubbed as ’horsegate’ the scandal has spread from Ireland and the UK to some 20 countries such as Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Italy, France, and Spain.
Gradual escalation
The first apparent instance of fresh beef being adulterated with horse meat was reported by Asda, the UK supermarket chain owned by the US group Walmart, which promptly removed its 500-gram own-label beef Bolognese sauce from sale. Nestle, the world’s leading food company, at first stated that its products had not been affected. Then, after tests found traces of equine DNA, it removed beef pasta meals sold under the labels of Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini in Italy and Spain together with Lasagnes Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France The group said tests had found more than 1% horse DNA in the samples tested. It was not immediately clear whether the tests had been carried out by Nestle or by a third party. In what was seen as a move to re-assure investors and shareholders Nestlé declared it was not attempting to estimate the level of impact the recall would have on the reputation of its brand. The withdrawals, a spokesman said, would have no material financial impact on the company. “These are chilled pasta products that do not have a long shelf life so there are very low levels of inventory,” he said. Another Swiss enterprise, the retailer Co-op, known for its broad range of organic, locally-sourced food, was forced to remove nine different products from its shelves. It disclosed that it had found horsemeat in its own-brand frozen lasagne produced by the Comigel food processing company in France. Co-op now faces possible charges of negligence from the Swiss authorities.
Complex ramifications
The intricate twists and turns of the complex international dealings were typified by Comigel. Its president, Erick Lehagre, told Agence France-Presse that his adulterated meat supplier was Spanghero, a firm owned by Lur Berri and founded in 1970 by Claude and Laurent Spanghero, two former France international rugby players. Lehagre said that Spanghero had told him that the meat was not from France, but came from a producer in Romania. Subsequently, France’s Consumer Affairs Minister Benoit Hamon warned that the government would not hesitate to take legal action if there was evidence that companies had knowingly duped consumers. Hamon said an initial investigation by French safety authorities had found a French company, Poujol, (Spanghero’s holding company) that had bought frozen meat from a Cypriot trader. That trader had bought it from Dutch food supplier Draap (the Dutch word for horse, Paard spelled backwards), owned by Jan Fasen, who was previously convicted for horse meat fraud in 2007. Draap, in turn, bought it from two Romanian slaughterhouses. Poujol then supplied a factory in Luxembourg, owned by Comigel, which then supplied Findus and the British supermarkets. The Romanian government rejected these claims and insisted that there were no contracts between the Romanian abattoirs and any French, Cypriot or Dutch meat processors.
EU Position
Veterinary officers of the 27 countries of the European Union established that 4.6% of meat traded throughout the bloc contained high levels of equine DNA, an amount considered to be potentially harmful to public health. In Italy 33 cases were found in 454 samples representing more than 7% of the total examined. The health ministry named 16 companies where horsemeat had been found in prepared meals. They included Ragu from Star, Primia frozen lasagne Bolognese and La Cucina di Bologna tagliatelle. Horsemeat was found in pasta being sold as veal- and beef-filled in a Como supermarket. The fresh, stuffed pasta was pulled from grocery store refrigerators and Milan health officials seized over 200 kilograms of meat from the company Marchioness Ltd after tests proved positive for horse DNA in the brand’s pre-packaged food. The Italian Agricultural Confederation (CIA) said the situation was damaging the entire production line in Italy as well as in Europe and betraying the trust of consumers. “It is now time for the iron fist to be used in cases of fraud and swindles,” the CIA declared. “We must have stricter laws and tougher penalties against fraudsters. There must be transparency if we are to retain the trust of consumers and make it obligatory for the provenance of all meat all meat to be certified and not just for beef.”
Negative effects
Sales in France of frozen meals made with beef fell sharply in the wake of the scandal bringing lost sales in the category to EUR2 million ($2.62 million), consumer research firm Nielsen reported. In a sign that the impact of the affair could be lasting, more than a third of French shoppers who usually buy beef-based frozen meals were saying they will no longer do so, according to Nielsen. In the week of February 18-24, supermarket sales of frozen meals made with beef were down 47 percent compared with the same period last year, Nielsen said in a statement. This was a steeper decline than that estimated by fellow market researcher SymphonyIRI for the same week. Nielsen said the latest drop followed a 45% fall in the week to February 17 and an 18% drop in the week to February 8, when the horsemeat affair spread to France. Sales of frozen meat-based prepared meals such as lasagne fell by nearly 30% according to data collected from more than 6,000 French supermarkets. In addition to its sales estimates, based on supermarket checkout data, Nielsen published a consumer poll showing that 39 percent of regular buyers of beef frozen meals intend to stop purchasing such products. By contrast overall sales of frozen ready meals recovered slightly from the first week after the burst of the scandal, driven by sales of fish-based dishes, whose sales have stabilized and pizza sales which rose 2% compared with the same period last year. But overall sales of ready meals were still down 17 percent on year on year.
Panic in the UK
In Britain, sales of pasta and meat-based frozen dishes including lasagne, moussaka and shepherd’s pie, dropped 26 percent compared to the same week in 2012. Comigel was also reported to have supplied Findus, once part of Nestlé, 11 products containing between 60% and 100% of horse meat. Findus told the Food Standards Authority (FSA) the company had been alerted by a third-party French supplier on 4 February 2013, and tested its beef lasagne products finding over 50% of the products contained horse meat. Both Findus UK and the French supplier withdrew all products related to the third party supplier. Symphony IRI Group reported that a slowdown in the spectacular growth trend of ready meals in Britain had been driven by rising prices and cash-strapped shoppers exacerbated by the horsemeat scandal. Britain’s ready meals market is valued at about GBP2bn and an earlier report from Symphony in February stated that chilled ready meals had been the fastest growing category in grocery in 2012, with an increase in value sales over the previous year of 12%. According to the latest figures, the total market was down 5% in value year-on-year and this corresponded with the horsemeat scandal. Frozen food sales were down 13% and chilled down 3%. Findus announced that it would no longer accept meat from Comigel and stopped further deliveries of the product in question. On the same day, Findus UK published a public apology on its website, also announcing that, following DNA testing, three of its products were found to contain horse tissue. These were the 320, 350 and 500 gram packages of Findus Beef Lasagne; the company offered a refund for products purchased. Findus Sverige AB also announced a recall of its 375 gram packs of ready-made single-portion lasagne and published a contact number for customers who had already purchased the products. Another of Comigel’s clients, the supermarket chain Aldi announced that it would withdraw from sale its two brands Today’s Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today’s Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese after tests by Comigel found the meat contained equine DNA.
Regaining trust
Nobody knows exactly how long it will take to regain consumers’ confidence but the general view is that it will be many months rather than weeks if not years. This will need stricter regulation and quality control for the industry. Although just under 5 per cent of meat tested in the EU contained equine DNA this is an amount large enough to give rise to concern for the public health. The general public may want the cheapest possible prices for meat but this will result in suppliers cutting corners and resorting to questionable sources. Drastic action will have to be taken if there is any criminal activity involved. The frozen pasta prepared meals industry will have to apply much closer scrutiny of their supplies and show greater transparency by guaranteeing total traceability. They can woo consumers with innovative new products and already several are doing that. Birds Eye is launching a new range of microwaveable frozen Italian pasta meals. They come in pouches in three variants: cheese ravioli in tomato and basil sauce, ham and cheese tortellini and cheese tortellini each priced at around EUR2. Each meal contains at least one RDA portion of vegetables and less than 410 calories and takes eight minutes to steam-heat from frozen. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good — there is always someone who benefits from a situation that harms others. Morrisons, one of the UK’s top four supermarkets, has not only emerged unscathed from the horsemeat scandal it has actually increased its sales of frozen pasta dishes. Unlike others who used questionable suppliers Morissons has shown total transparency by sourcing its meat direct from its own farmers. As a result it is the only UK supermarkets to see its perception among consumers actually improve as proved by the growing number of customers it has attracted from other chains.