About 1,000 restaurants, shops in Netherlands possibly got horse meat

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, May 14 (UPI) -- Food safety inspectors in the Netherlands said more than 1,000 restaurants, shops and butchers sold beef products possibly mixed with horse meat.

In April, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority recalled more than 110 million pounds of meat distributed by Selten meat wholesaler because its origins were unclear, DutchNews.nl reported Tuesday.

The meat was distributed all over Europe between January 2011 and February 2013, and most of it has probably been "served and eaten," a spokesman for Selten said.

Food safety inspectors said approximately 900 restaurants would have received the potentially tainted beef.

Selten supplied beef to 132 meat processing firms, four of which have been fined for not cooperating with the investigation. Another received a written warning, the Netherlands news website said.