“FRENCH police have made 21 arrests as part of an investigation into claims that meat from horses used for drugs testing found its way into the food chain,

The arrests were made at various locations in the south of France following a tip-off that hundreds of horses, including some that had been owned by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, were sold to abattoirs after their veterinary papers were falsified, a police source said.

More than 100 officers were involved in raids at several Sanofi offices and at various abattoirs, including one in Gerona in northern Spain.

Among those arrested were at least three vets and several meat dealers, including one based in Narbonne in southwestern France who is suspected of being the ringleader of the illicit trade, police sources said.

Sanofi said it was cooperating with the investigation into "possible fraud" but played down the possibility of a threat to human health.

The company said it had sold around 200 horses in the last three years, generally to veterinary colleges, individuals or horse centres.

"The horses are all micro-chipped for tracability and they do not present any danger in the event of human consumption," a spokesman said.

A little horse... a butcher arranges different sorts of horse meat on sale at his shop in Bremen, northern Germany.

"It is specified in their sales certificates that these horses are not to be introduced to the food chain, but that is as a precautionary measure, not because there is any danger."

The company said that the horses had been used to provide blood for the manufacture of serums against tetanus and rabies and stressed they had not been used for drugs testing.

A police source also indicated that there was no evidence of a risk to human health "but they should never have found their way on to diners' plates".

The case follows a Europe-wide health scare earlier this year when horsemeat was found in millions of ready meals labelled as containing only beef.

Benoit Hamon, the French minister responsible for consumer affairs, said the latest episode was potentially more worrying than the labelling scandal, which centred on a French company, Spanghero.

"It's different. In this case there could be a health problem," Mr Hamon told RTL radio.

Horses as guinea pigs... Sanofi's horses would have been used either to provide blood for use in vaccines or for testing drugs still in development.

But Food Minister Guillaume Garot played down that idea. "At this stage there is nothing to indicate any health problem," he said.

Eating horsemeat is regarded as taboo in some European countries, notably Britain, but is still widespread in Belgium, France, Spain and Italy, although consumption is in long-term decline.”

Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/french-police-make-arrests-over-cliams-horses-used-in-sanofi-drug-tests-sold-as-meat/story-fneuz8wn-1226784504616

PERSONAL COMMENT 

Just to resume this scandal, in 2013, horsemeat has been found in different restaurant in France, Horse meat which has been treat in pharmaceutical laboratory from Sanofi. So, how is it possible? A multinational company as Sanofi cannot let something like that happening. During few years, Sanofi was experimenting new medicine on horse and then they sold horse to merchants, veterinary schools or individuals. 60 were returned to the circuit power. One of these merchants betrayed his word; Sanofi has decided to become a civil party.

This scandal was terrible for Sanofi because nowadays, horsemeat is in centre of attention. That’s the second time in 2013 that there is problem about this kind of meat in France. For sanofi, which really care about its corporate reputation it’s really serious, they decided to complain and participate in helping policy in their investigation.

Nicolas Toupin