Foto: Scott Heppell/AP

Dansk Supermarked, which owns the Bilka, Føtex and Netto supermarket chains, has changed its mind and will not now be offering lasagne from the French company Comigel, which is at the centre of a horsemeat-beef labelling controversy.

British food authorities have advised British outlets to stop sales of all meat products from Comigel.

“We have received new information that has made us change our minds,” says Dansk Supermarked Head of Information Mads Hvitved Grand.

Dansk Supermarked’s change of mind comes a week after the mislabelling scandal erupted in Europe, with horsemeat being passed off as beef. Comigel, which supplies the lasagne in question, suggested one of its subcontractors had been the source of the meat-swap. The subcontractor denies the accusations.

At the time, Dansk Supermarked decided to continue selling Comigel’s lasagne, provided that content meat had not come from the subcontractor concerned.

“Last week we had reason to believe that there were only problems with a single Comigel subcontractor, but we now feel that there may be problems with all of Comigel,” Hvitved Grand says.

Cooperation with Comigel had already been stopped last week by the other major Danish supermarket owners of Kvickly, Dagli’Brugsen and SuperBrugsen.

EU agriculture ministers are due to meet in Brussels today to discuss the scandal, which although it is said not to pose a health hazard, questions the trust that consumers can have in meat labelling. There are reports that meat-switching may be controlled by organised crime syndicates.

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