French authorities have found 57 tons of banned mutton at the French company Spanghero, which was earlier implicated in the horsemeat scandal.
Spanghero operates a factory in Castelnaudary, near Toulouse, in south-west France. The meat found at the factory was produced using an illegal mechanical process, which allows muscles, nerves and bone marrow to enter into the meat.
Since 2001, this process is banned for sheep, cattle and goats in Europe as bone marrow and other parts may carry Scrapie and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
A spokesman for the French Ministry of Agriculture noted that the banned meat at Spanghero factory was imported from the UK, through Cyprus-based Draap Trading.
Spanghero denied any role in sourcing the banned mutton and added that it was deceived by its supplier.
In a statement, Spanghero said that it had ordered minced lamb from its supplier Draap Trading and received meat it considered in keeping with its order.
Spanghero was earlier implicated in the horsemeat scandal after it was found guilty of sourcing horsemeat from Romania labelled as beef which was eventually distributed to supermarkets shelves in the UK.
While the French government temporarily closed the company for selling 750 tons of horsemeat as beef, it was later allowed to reopen after tests found no irregularities in the facility.
