The latest scandal surrounding horsemeat in processed food could be "disastrous" for the meat processing industry, retail analysts are warning.

BBC: Horsemeat scandal: The business impact

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has called for the police to investigate the latest revelations about the meat processing industry.

BBC: Newry cold store: Horsemeat not ours

Guidelines issued Wednesday by the national health agency identify butchers, breeders and sellers of poultry, and those in the meat processing industry as at higher risk.

NPR: China Kills Market Birds As Flu Found In Pigeons

The horsemeat controversy has hit the Irish meat-processing industry, with a number of suppliers on both sides of the border affected.

BBC: UK

"In my memory, this is the most serious accident in the meat-processing sector, " said He Zhonghua, an analyst with China Meat Industry Network, a consultancy owned by the semiofficial China Meat Industry Association.

WSJ: Poultry-Plant Fire in China Kills More Than 100

The investigations come as Europe's food industry has been engulfed by a meat processing and labelling scandal after multiple processed meat products labelled as beef were revealed to contain quantities of horsemeat.

BBC: Germany investigates organic egg 'fraud'