Horse meat found in Italian frozen foods

• Tweet

ROME, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Italian authorities said mislabeled horse meat was found in tons of products that were supposed to contain beef.

The products came from the northern Italian supplier Primia. It was the first discovery of horse meat in Italy as part of an investigation into the European food-supply scandal.

Officials said the mislabeled meat was found in 6 tons of what was labeled minced beef and in 2,400 packages of packaged lasagna and meat sauce.

The BBC said the discovery came on the heels of the announcement the Swiss food giant Nestle had passed an inspection in Italy. Nestle Monday announced it was pulling its beef pasta products from store shelves in Spain and Italy after traces of equine DNA turned up in its testing.

The inspection means the Italians will turn over 26 tons of frozen foods back to Nestle.