Romanian abattoir Doly-Com denies mislabelling horsemeat as beef

Opening its doors to prove it has nothing to hide, a Romanian abattoir at the heart of a horsemeat scandal that has engulfed Europe insists it has never tried to pass horse off as beef.

Located in a snow-covered field in the remote northeastern village of Roma where residents still use horse-drawn carts, the unassuming Doly-Com abattoir has found itself in the eye of the storm after being identified as one of the sources of horsemeat posing as beef in frozen food sold in British supermarkets.

But Doly-Com director Iulian Cazacut has vehemently denied any responsibility, saying his company, which sells meat products to about a dozen European countries, strictly adheres to European Union standards and has always correctly labelled its products.

"We sold horsemeat… Someone along the way changed the labelling," Cazacut said at the Doly-Com facility. The abattoir did not even export minced meat, he said, so the answer to how the fraud could have happened lay with meat processing firms further down the industry's complex food supply chain.

As head of a company that had a turnover of €35 million (HK$365 million) last year and even plays music to relax the animals, Cazacut appeared incredulous at apparent efforts to "put the blame on Romania".

Given obvious visible differences between beef and horsemeat, it was unlikely the companies involved did not know they were handling horsemeat.