France allows charities to take horsemeat meals

France allows charities to take horsemeat meals

The French government has given the green light for food aid charities to hand out thousands of recalled ready meals containing horsemeat to the country’s most needy.

French supermarkets including frozen food giant Picard have recalled thousands of ready-made dishes found to contain horsemeat, despite being labelled as beef.

Not wishing to see tonnes of food go to waste, three food aid charities - Restos du Coeur (restaurants with heart), Secours Populaire (People rescue) and Banque Alimentaire (the food bank) - expressed an interest in getting hold of the meals and re-distributing them among the poor, as long as they posed no health risk.

They called on the French government to allow them the chance to commandeer the meals from the various companies

On Thursday Consumer Affairs Minister Benoît Hamon answered their call giving the green light for Findus and Picard and other companies caught up in the scandal to hand over the dinners as long as they were re-labelled.

http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/france-permits-charities-to-handout-horsemeat-meals#.US_LCjfyCSo