Consumer confidence is at stake, says Stephen Rossides, director of the British Meat Processors Association.
Now meat processors are pinning their hopes on the Senate mark-up of the farm bill.
But the meat processors and the state inspection agencies say that's hogwash.
At least a dozen countries are involved in the horsemeat affair, which implicates some of the biggest meat processors and food producers.
The feds are cracking down on illegal aliens and the meat processors, construction outfits and produce growers that employ them unwittingly or otherwise.
In fact, the company's problems ran deeper than that amiable cook, and included burdensome debts and an inability to compete with more highly-integrated meat processors abroad.
Nevertheless, Scottish meat processors have built a strong UK market, achieving better prices than their English competitors, based on a reputation for quality and comparatively low incidence of BSE.
Meanwhile, the Irish Department of Agriculture and the Food Standards Authority of Ireland (FSAI) are currently working to develop testing protocols for DNA testing at meat processors in the Republic.
The import ban "will not have a major impact" on chicken meat processors in Malaysia, said an industry executive from the Federation of Livestock Farmers' Associations of Malaysia, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
What particularly galls state inspected meat processors is that meat and poultry from 34 countries, including Australia, Croatia and Mexico, can be freely shipped and sold anywhere in the U.S. on the grounds that those countries have adequate regulation.
Such discoveries have spread like wildfire across Europe as governments, supermarkets, meat traders and processors began their own DNA testing of products labeled beef and have been forced to withdraw tens of millions of products from store shelves.
State-inspected processors say their meat is just as safe as that inspected by the feds.
When details of the horsemeat contamination scandal first broke in the Republic of Ireland on 16 January, Irish food processors claimed the contaminated meat products had been supplied by companies in Poland.
The FSA's Maria Jennings said it was very important for food processors to know the source of their meat.
However, these studies do show that farmers (who get only about 30% of the retail price for meat) have much weaker bargaining power than the food processors and the supermarkets who can use their clout to keep prices low.
Processors will be able to make up the difference by buying more meat from local poultry farms.
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