Horsemeat scandal: legal action expected across Europe Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, who said: 'It looks as if this conspiracy, criminal conspiracy, criminal action, whatever you want to call it, may be extensive.' Legal action over the horsemeat scandal is to be mounted in Europe, the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, has said as he described the contamination of beef products as a case of fraud against the public. Paterson said the scandal appeared to be "extensive" across Europe but he repeated his rejection of calls for a ban on meat imports, saying that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) advice was that all products on sale are safe for consumption. "This is a case of fraud and a conspiracy against the public, this is a criminal action, substituting one material for another," he told BBC Breakfast in answer to questioning about calls for a ban on meat imports. If a British consumer goes into a retail store and buys a beef product, they should expect to get beef in that product, not horse. So this is a straight case of fraud and I think you will see legal actions beginning in certain continental countries today. I will be taking it up with certain ministers and also with the commission in Europe, because this is overall a European commission competence. It is absolutely unacceptable that consumers are being passed off with one product when they buy another. Asked about his prediction that there could be more bad news to come after the next set of test results has been completed, Paterson said: "It looks as if this conspiracy, criminal conspiracy, criminal action, whatever you want to call it, may be extensive. I understand the plant in Luxembourg has had to issue warnings to customers in 16 different countries. Paterson's remarks come as he is due to update MPs on Monday on the scandal. On Sunday, he told LBC 97.3 Radio that "we may find out, as the week progresses as the tests begin to come in, that there is a substance which is injurious to human health," but added: "We have no evidence of that at all at the moment. And on Monday morning Paterson said: "The FSA's clear advice is to continue buying and eating all the products for sale. Should evidence come forward of any serious threat to health obviously we will react very swiftly, and that could mean action on imports. But at the moment, all the evidence is that these products are entirely safe and people are open to eat them if they are advised so by the FSA - and they are. Asked how widespread he believed the scandal was, given that he was warning of possibly more bad news, Paterson replied: "I honestly don't know. Reports today we have had from France looks as though it might have been pinned down to two abattoirs in Romania but I will be talking to authorities later in the day to establish that. I very much hope that these legal processes do flush out the criminals because it is completely unacceptable that British consumers should be sold a product marked as one thing which actually contains something else. Paterson said on Sunday that the government was powerless to impose a ban on meat imports unless beef contaminated with horsemeat is found to be a health risk. He spoke after the chair of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee backed a ban on meat imports and urged the public to buy their meat locally. Conservative MP Anne McIntosh said: "I believe there should be a moratorium on the movement of all meat until such time as we can trace the source of contamination." But the shadow environment secretary, Mary Creagh, said banning meat imports was a "knee-jerk reaction." The FSA has said there is no evidence to suggest the horsemeat detected in beef products poses a danger to humans, but confirmed that tests have been ordered for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone as animals treated with "bute" are not allowed to enter the food chain. Frozen foods firm Findus, which has taken its beef lasagnes made by French food supplier Comigel off shelves after some were found to have up to 100% horsemeat in them, said it was considering taking legal action against its suppliers as an internal investigation "strongly suggests" that the contamination was not accidental. Paterson said no case for criminal action had been discovered in the UK yet but the FSA said it was working closely with police in case that changes. The scandal has spread all over the continent as details of the elaborate supply chain in the meat industry emerge. French consumer safety authorities have said companies from Romania, Cyprus and the Netherlands as well as its own firms were involved. Romanian authorities have confirmed they are investigating while their Dutch counterparts said they are ready to do so if necessary. One theory for the apparent increase in the presence of horsemeat in the food chain is new restrictions on using horses on roads in Romania, which have led to a surge in numbers of animals being put down.