German supermarket says traces of horsemeat found in lasagne

Berlin, Feb 14 (AFP) German supermarket chain Real said it has found traces of horsemeat in frozen lasagne that it had pulled as a precautionary measure off the shelves last week. The company said in a statement on its website that tests yesterday had "found contents of horsemeat" and that it had already taken the frozen TiP lasagne off the shelves as a precautionary measure last Friday. It added that there had been "at no time evidence of a hygienic risk for consumers" but that the product did not meet Real's standards of quality and it took the matter very seriously. The group, which has 316 shops in Germany, said it was working closely with distributors and authorities to "take all necessary measures and ensure that only acceptable goods are sold to customers". German Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner said on public ARD television today that "authorities must check to what extent horsemeat is actually present in these products". "Firms have already reacted and taken suspicious products off the market," she said. Supermarket chains Edeka, Kaiser's Tengelmann and frozen goods chain Eismann are also testing their products. German officials announced yesterday they suspected food may have been delivered to the country mislabelled as beef when it contained horsemeat after being informed a day earlier via a European alert system. The EU's executive called in Europe's law enforcers and urged bloc-wide DNA food testing yesterday to restore consumer confidence. Britain, France and Switzerland have all found horsemeat in frozen meals labelled as beef. (AFP) GVS 02141702 NNNN