Germany is hit by a new food scandal as authorities struggled to restore consumers’ confidence in meat products shattered by the recent discovery of horse meat in thousands of ready meals sold across Europe labelled as beef.
Prosecutors in the north German city of Oldenburg said they are investigating allegations that more than 150 poultry farms in the state of Lower Saxony have defrauded consumers by marketing millions of mass-produced eggs as products of free-range or organic farming.
The investigations are based on information that for many years poultry farmers across northern Germany have systematically violated the rules for free-range and organic poultry farming by keeping too many chickens in their stalls than permitted and sold their eggs under the organic label for a higher price, according to chief prosecutor Roland Hermann.
It appears that this was a widespread practice among poultry farms in northern Germany, he said in a TV interview.
Meanwhile, the Swedish furniture giant IKEA became the latest company to be caught up in Europe’s horse meat scandal.
It stopped the sale of its popular meatballs Kottbular at its retail outlets and restaurants in Germany and 23 other countries after horsemeat was detected in it by the authorities in the Czech Republic some days go, the company said in a statement.
—PTI