法國慈善團體欲向窮人發放馬肉大綱

FROZEN meals containing horsemeat may be given to the needy.

Charities have put up their hands to claim meals that have been yanked from retail shelves as the growing horsemeat scandal engulfs Europe.

Three French charities say they’re prepared to hand out thousands of frozen dinners that contain horsemeat.

Six French supermarkets have recalled - or are planning to recall - ready-made meals found to contain horsemeat, despite being labelled as beef.

The charities, Restos du Coeur (Restaurants with Heart), Secours Populaire (People Rescue) and Banque Alimentaire (The Food Bank) want to get hold of the meals and re-distribute them among their clients.

The three charities met last week to try to work out a plan of action, according to English-language French newspaper The Local.

''Above all, these cannot be thrown out. If the meals are safe, we will take them,'' a branch manager from Secours Populaire told Europe 1 radio.

Philippe Le Mescam, head of the Brittany branch of Restos du Coeur said, ''It would be scandalous to destroy all these tonnes of food, if tests show that they don’t pose a health risk.''

The meals would also have to be re-labelled before being handed out, as their packaging wrongly suggests they only contain beef.

A spokeswoman for Restos du Coeur said the charity wouldn't accept meals for the moment, saying there were many health issues to be sorted out before they could be redistributed.

''Our goal is to fight waste. These products are now in storage, awaiting some sort of resolution. So if they can’t be sold, we could take them and distribute them to deprived people,'' said director of the French Federation of Food Banks, Maurice Lony.

The food scandal began on January 15 when horse DNA was discovered in frozen beef burgers sold in Irish and British supermarkets.

Further investigations revealed horsemeat was also in frozen packaged beef lasagna and spaghetti bolognese as well as meatballs. The meat has been traced to European abattoirs.含有馬肉的冷凍肉可能將被髮放給窮人。

隨着愈演愈烈的馬肉風波席捲整個歐洲，已有慈善團體表示申領這些從零售超市下架的馬肉。

三家法國慈善團體表示將把含有馬肉的數千份冷凍食品發放出去。

六家法國超市已經召回——或打算召回——發現含有馬肉（雖然標籤爲牛肉）的即食肉製品。

“愛心飯店”、“人民救援”與“食品銀行”三家法國慈善團體打算申領這些肉製品，然後再將其分發給資助對象。

據法國一家英語報紙The Local報道，這三家慈善團體上週末進行了碰面，力求制定一份行動計劃。

“最重要的是，不能將這些肉製品統統扔掉。如果這些肉製品可安全食用，我們將要申領”，“人民救援”的一個分支的負責人接受歐洲一臺採訪時說道。

“愛心飯店”慈善組織布列塔尼分支負責人菲利普·勒·梅斯堪姆表示，“如果檢測結果顯示這些食品不會對健康構成威脅，那麼將這些重達數噸的食品摧毀就太丟臉了”。

由於弄錯的包裝上說明僅含有牛肉，這些肉製品在被分發前將會重新貼上標籤。

“愛心飯店”組織的一位女發言人稱該慈善團體眼下不會接受這些肉製品，她表示這些肉製品在分發前還有諸多健康問題需要解決。

“我們的目標是消滅浪費。這些肉製品現在都已儲存起來，等待解決辦法的出爐。所以，如果這些肉製品不能出售，我們就會買來分發給困難羣衆，”法國食品銀行聯合會會長毛里斯·羅尼如是說。

這一食品醜聞肇始於今年1月15號，當時在愛爾蘭和英國超市銷售的冷凍牛肉漢堡中發現了馬肉DNA。

進一步的調查發現，冷凍包裝牛肉千層麪、意大利番茄牛肉麪以及肉丸中均含有馬肉。經追查這些馬肉來自歐洲的幾家屠宰場。