Horsemeat scandal: Richard Lochhead wants to extend meat testing

Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead wants to extend testing on processed meat across Europe for a further two months to get a “complete picture” of the horsemeat scandal.

After a meeting in Brussels, he said: “EU ministers discussed the option to extend the testing programme for a further two months beyond March and whilst no final decision has been taken, I spoke directly to the commissioner to convey Scotland’s strong support for this. It is vitally important that the tests continue until we are sure we have the complete picture across Europe.

“To date, we have had only one positive test in the public sector in Scotland and results for the whole of the food industry announced on Friday showed there have only been six new positive tests across the UK in the last week of testing.

“In the food processing sector in Scotland 96% of the inspections of meat processing premises have now been carried out, with no evidence to date of horsemeat food fraud occurring in food manufacturing in Scotland.”