Findus Nordic to sue France’s Comigel over horsemeat

Frozen food producer Findus Nordic said Sunday it would sue French firm Comigel and its suppliers after horsemeat traced to Romania was found in its beef lasagne meals.

“This is a breach of contract and fraud,” the head of Findus Nordic, Jari Latvanen, said in a statement announcing the legal action.

“Such behaviour on the part of a supplier is unacceptable,” he added, noting that the meat in its lasagne meals was supposed to be French, German or Austrian beef.

Findus “revealed the scandal” and is “absolutely furious” to be scapegoated in the affair, he said.

The company has asked its suppliers to certify their meat, and Comigel was the only one to report irregularities, he said.

“No law can prevent someone from intentionally carrying out fraud, using horsemeat and falsifying documents,” he said.

Swedish Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson said each distributor should be held responsible for its products.

“We the consumers must feel 100 percent certain that the product that we are buying in a store contains what is written on the package. If that is not the case, I think it’s trickery, and that should be considered fraud,” Erlandsson told the Swedish news agency TT.

Sweden’s National Food Agency will meet Monday to decide whether to seek legal redress against distributors of fake beef lasagne meals.