French police arrest 21 in illicit horsemeat inquiry A worker carries meat on Monday while watched by a policeman at a depot in Narbonne, southern France French police have launched raids in southern France to halt the suspected trafficking into the food chain of horsemeat barred from human consumption after being used by the pharmaceutical industry. The action follows the scandal this year when horsemeat was found in processed beef dishes, such as lasagne, sold widely across Europe. Police said 21 people had been arrested after the dawn raids in 11 different regions that targeted meat traders, abattoirs and vets. Sanofi, the pharmaceutical company, said it had been co-operating with investigators for some weeks over police concerns that horses it had sold had ended up in the food chain. Sanofi Pasteur, the company's vaccine division, said it had sold on about 200 horses used in producing vaccines against infectious diseases over the past three years. It said the company's policy was not to sell the animals for slaughter and it was the victim of fraud. The food and agriculture ministry said: "The operation is aimed at dismantling organised trafficking the scale of which, including in other countries, will be revealed by the results of the investigation." Horses sold by equestrian centres and individuals were also the target of the investigation, officials said. They said the latest case was not directly related to the lasagne scandal, when horsemeat slaughtered in Romania was sold via a Dutch trader to a French meat processor before being relabelled as beef and sold on to factories making frozen dishes for brand labels and supermarkets. But Guillaume Garot, the food industry minister, said the new horsemeat inquiry was the result of increased surveillance to ensure food safety following the lasagne scandal. "We have put these sectors under pressure in a bid to end fraudulent practices," he said. The minister added that it was unclear whether there was any health risk from the horsemeat used by the pharmaceutical industry. Although less popular in recent years, horsemeat remains a common dish in France. Sanofi said it uses horses to produce antibodies for vaccines against diseases such as tetanus, rabies and snake bites. French ministers this month attacked the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, for not acting to enforce extended labelling of the geographic origin of meat to all fresh meat and processed foods. Paris believes the move would help protect consumers from food fraud such as the contamination unveiled in this year's scandals. But ministers said the commission was unwilling to act because of opposition from countries such as the UK and Spain, which opposed more regulation of the food industry.