The UK horsemeat scandal has extended into Norway, a local retail firm has confirmed. Officials from Oslo-based food retailer Norgesgruppen reported that horsemeat had been discovered in pre-packaged First Price brand lasagne a week ago. The company said that the product has since been completely removed from grocery shelves.
The news marks the first discovery of horsemeat sold in Norway since the pan-European scandal began in Ireland last month after health officials confirmed that some beef products being sold in the country contained horsemeat.
Communications director Per Roskifte said on behalf of Norgesgruppen, “When we found out that one company involved in the horsemeat case in Europe was a firm we were customers of, we immediately withdrew the meals from our stores and out of distribution,” Reuters reports.
Roskifte said that the product – which had been imported from Luxembourg – was then sent for lab analysis that later confirmed that horsemeat was present in the ready-made meals.
Mr Roskifte went on to add that the company is not yet sure of what action it will take regarding the incident: “We are in a close dialogue with the Norwegian food safety authority. We will see what they would like to do. This is a new issue for us. We have never been exposed to this type of scoundrel behaviour before.”