雀巢牛肉產品中發現馬肉成分

近期席捲歐洲的“馬肉醜聞”又有新進展，雀巢公司生產的兩款冷凍意粉產品被檢出有馬肉成分，含量雖不高，但超過了1%。該公司立即開始在意大利和西班牙召回這兩款產品，另外一款產自法國的冷凍產品也被召回。雀巢公司網站發佈的一份聲明表示，已查出這些產品的肉類供應商來自德國，並稱此事雖不涉及食品安全問題，但產品標籤有誤說明這些產品未能達到消費者期望的高標準。除將有關產品下架以外，雀巢公司還表示“將加強現有的綜合質量保障體系，對所有即將在歐洲進行加工的牛肉增加馬肉DNA檢測程序”。“馬肉醜聞”已波及英國、法國、德國、瑞士等12個歐洲國家，英國和德國近期均表示要建立冷凍食品檢測機制。

The Swiss-based firm has halted deliveries of products containing meat from a German supplier.

Nestle is the latest in a string of major food producers to find traces of horsemeat in beef meals.

A spokesman for the company said levels of horse DNA were very low but above 1%.

Last week the firm said its products did not contain horsemeat.

Nestle withdrew two chilled pasta products, Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, in Italy and Spain.

Lasagnes a la Bolognaise Gourmandes, a frozen product for catering businesses produced in France, will also be withdrawn.

A spokesman for the company told the BBC that Nestle had identified a problem with a supplier from Germany.

A statement on the Nestle website identified the supplier as HJ Schypke, a sub-contractor of JBS Toledo, a major meat processing company based in Belgium.

"There is no food safety issue, but the mislabeling of products means they fail to meet the very high standards consumers expect from us," the statement said.

In addition to removing the three affected products from sale, Nestle would be "enhancing our existing comprehensive quality assurance program by adding new tests on beef for horse DNA prior to production in Europe", it added.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the news that the world's biggest food producer is now having to withdraw some foods, shows the problem is far wider than previously thought and, critics say, how dangerously unregulated the food industry has become.

The widening scandal over mislabeled horsemeat has affected at least 12 European countries, including Switzerland, where the retailer Co-op - famous for its broad range of organic, locally-sourced food - was on Monday forced to remove nine different products from its shelves.

Last Wednesday, the company said 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.

France meanwhile partially lifted a production ban for another meat processing firm, Spanghero.

The French government revoked its license last week over suspicions that Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labeled as beef, an allegation the company rejects.

The French authorities said that unwitting workers should not be penalized.

As a result the firm will be allowed to produce minced meat, sausages and ready-to-eat meals, but not to stock frozen meat.

Meanwhile the UK and Germany have also both pledged to step up testing of frozen food products.