Tests of beef products conducted across Europe showed that almost 5% of them were tainted with horse meat, and this percentage was higher in some countries such as France and Greece.
In February, the European Union, Switzerland and Norway carried out genetic tests following the presence of horse-meat in products labeled as beef in several countries, which raised a public outcry.
About 200 samples were tested positive with horse-meat out of 4,497 beef product samples collected from 27 EU nations, or 4.4%. Of these positive samples, almost a quarter of them are from France, home to food manufacturer Spanghero that exported frozen lasgna, and several other beef products which contained horse meat in the UK.
Samples from Greece formed almost 20% of the positive tests. Around 13% of samples were positive in both countries, the highest rate in Europe.
In another round of tests, less than 1% of horse-meat samples showed presence of phenylbutazone, a painkiller used on animals which is harmful to human health.
EU health commissioner Tonio Borg said that the findings have confirmed that this is a matter of food fraud and not of food safety.
"In the coming months, the commission will propose to strengthen the controls along the food chain in line with lessons learned."
Meanwhile, the UK government has announced that a wide-ranging strategic review of the horsemeat scandal will be conducted, in a move to restore consumers' confidence in the food they buy.
Food Minister David Heath informed the Parliament that the ministry would check for any vulnerabilities in the food supply chain.
