Horse DNA in 5% of EU tested beef

16 April 2013 Last updated at 10:46 ET

Horse DNA has been found in up to 5% of beef products randomly tested across the EU, according to results from the European Commission.

Inspectors also found the banned anti-inflammatory horse drug phenylbutazone, or "bute", in 0.5% of horsemeat tested.

The EU said it was "a matter of food fraud and not of food safety".

The three-month programme of checks was agreed by the 27 EU member states in February after horsemeat had been found in a batch of Findus frozen lasagne.

"Restoring the trust and confidence of European consumers and trading partners in our food chain following this fraudulent labelling scandal is now of vital importance for the European economy," said EU Commissioner for Health and Consumers Tonio Borg.

He said the Commission would "propose to strengthen the controls along the food chain in line with lessons learned."

Of the 4,144 tests carried out across the EU for the presence of horsemeat DNA, 193 were positive (4.66%).

There were 3,115 tests for bute, of which 16 were positive (0.51%).

In addition, member states reported another 7,951 tests for horse DNA performed by food business operators; of these 110 were positive (1.38%).

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Horse DNA in 5% of EU tested beef