Post date: Feb 25, 2013 7:28:59 PM
German investigators look into possible organic egg fraud following horsemeat scandal.
LANDSHUT, GERMANY (REUTERS) - German authorities are investigating possible large-scale fraud by organic egg producers amid increased concern over food industry practices following Europe's horse meat scandal.
The northern state of Lower Saxony, a major agricultural hub, has launched probes of some 150 farms suspected of wrongly selling eggs produced by hens kept in overcrowded conditions under the organic label.
"In particular, we are investigating possible fraud, but also possible breaches of the German Food and Feed Code and the law on organic farming," said Frauke Wilken, a senior public prosecutor in Lower Saxony on Monday (February 25).Two other states are investigating a further 50 farms.
German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner urged regional governments to ensure the full implementation of tough German and EU laws on organic food production, adding that consumers must be able to have full confidence in the labeling of products.
"If organic is on the box, then what's inside also needs to be organic," Aigner said, ahead of a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels.
Organically produced eggs cost some 10 cents more than those produced under standard industrial conditions.
Christian Meyer, farm minister in the newly appointed Lower Saxony government, vowed to take a tough line on any farms found to have broken the law.
Organic food is a huge industry in environmentally-conscious Germany, where many consumers are willing to pay extra for eggs, meat, vegetables and other products they believe have been produced organically.
But animal rights campaigner Erasmus Mueller says organic egg farms are just as profit-driven as every other manufacturer. "The animals are products and goods. At the point they stop being profitable, they are killed relatively quickly - like everywhere else," he said. Mueller's organisation, Animal Rights Watch, filmed conditions at one organic egg farm in Lower Saxony, where hens appear malnourished and disease-ridden. However, there is no evidence of the farm being involved in the current investigations by German prosecutors.
"The consumer is being tricked in this," said Hans-Michael Goldmann, Chairman of the German Parliamentary Committee On Food, Agriculture And Consumer Protection, in what he described as an "appalling" state of affairs.
The suspicions of organic egg fraud coincide with the discovery that horse meat was labelled as beef in processed food sold around Europe. The scandal has triggered recalls of ready meals and damaged confidence in the continent's food industry.
Two years ago, a European Union-wide health alert was sparked when German officials said animal feed tainted with dioxin had been fed to hens and pigs, contaminating eggs, poultry meat and pork at affected farms.