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The trial of four people accused of a complex fraud that drove consumers to buy ready-made meals containing horse meat instead of beef is open in Paris.
An international scandal erupted in 2013 when the Irish authorities discovered a mislabelled food in frozen burgers labeled "pure beef".
A wider investigation revealed that horse meat was present in ready meals for sale in several supermarkets in Great Britain and in prepared foods throughout Europe, including those used by caterers. Hospitals and at school lunches.
About 4.5 million dishes – including lasagna, moussaka, chili con carne and beef hamburgers – were distributed in 13 countries.
After an international investigation, the origin of the meat was attributed to French suppliers Spanghero and its production center located in Castelnaudary, in Aude. Spanghero had bought it from Romania via two companies based in the Netherlands and Cyprus.
The prosecution claims that Spanghero knew that she was buying frozen horse meat and had amended the customs code on the package.
The French authorities claimed that Spanghero had made more than € 500,000 in profits in six months by selling cheap horse meat, a much more expensive beef.
Dutch trader Jan Fasen, whose Cyprus-based company, Draap Trading Ltd (Draap) paard – Dutch for horse – backwards) negotiated the transaction between two Romanian slaughterhouses and the French company. Fasen was jailed for nine months in 2012 for selling South American horse meat as Halal beef from Germany or Holland between 2006 and 2009.
Two former leaders of Spanghero, Jacques Poujol and Patrice Monguillon, are also on the bench for fraud related to the plan developed. They are accused of having sold the meat as "boneless beef" cut and prepared in France, whereas they would have known that it was horse meat processed in Romania, in France. Belgium or Canada.
Spanghero had denied having already bought or sold horse meat. But the bills discovered in 2013 showed that Draap had charged 18.5 tons of horse meat to the French company. The invoice bore the product code for frozen horse meat used in international transport. The French firm did not deny the authenticity of the bill but said it did not know the existence of the code indicating the horsemeat.
Horse meat, widely consumed in France, poses no health risk but is less expensive than beef.
The scandal has raised concerns about the lack of controls over "processed" meat and the often complex supply chain across the EU, which has since tightened its food regulations.
A lawyer from Poujol told Reuters that he did not know that he would be sold to horsemeat, a claim refuted by one of his co-defendants.
The trial is expected to last three weeks. If they are found guilty of defrauding the public, men risk up to 10 years in prison and a fine of one million euros.
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