Source: Multiple
“The closure is a direct consequence of the horsemeat crisis…”
Food giant Nestle will shut a frozen meals plant at its site north of Paris after sales were hit by a Europe-wide scandal that saw horsemeat find its way into processed products such as ready meals, company officials said on Thursday.
The scandal started in January when traces of horse meat were found in frozen burgers sold in Irish and British supermarkets, sparked concern among French consumers and put them off frozen foods, a Nestle France spokeswoman said.
“The closure is a direct consequence of the horsemeat crisis,” she said. “In supermarkets, ready-meal aisles were deserted … It’s what you call collateral damage.”
She noted that sales of ready meals were down by a quarter from a year ago, after falling 40 percent in the immediate aftermath of the scandal, making the Beauvais plant, which produces meals under the Maggi brand, uneconomical.
The plant closure will lead to 165 job cuts, but employees will be offered packages or new jobs at an ice cream factory on the same site that is set to expand, plant director Patrice Raut said.
The frozen food factory that is being closed had been loss-making for at least two years, Raut said.
“The French market is falling bit by bit as consumers turn to fresh food or, for those seeking competitive prices, to preserves,” he said.
France is Nestle’s second-largest market in the world behind the United States. It has 30 plants in France, employing 16,000 people.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Shared. i Don’t Feel Sorry At All For Any Of Them. I’m Sure They All Knew What Was Going On And Did Not Blow The Whistle. Fat As I’m Concerned, They are All Guilty.
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Step by step the word is getting out how these companies operate. Greed is such a driver of things these days. We can’t even believe our government. Where are we all going to end up?
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I will bet that Nestle moves those operations to another location… Or contracts the same products out to another company… Don’t trust Nestle to do the right thing…
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This is really important for Cattlemen to see or even resteraunts who thought of serving it. It gives way for new headlines….USA beef demand lowered because of horsemeat, resteraunts shuttered. Cattle.companies sued….they just cant see the writing on the wall.
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Shame on you NESTLE
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I went to the grocery store soon after all this came to this. I was horrified to find things like Digorno Pizza were distributed by Nestle’s. Lots of my favorite foods were distributed by Nestle’s.
I have tried very hard to honor my own ban not to buy any frozen food distributed by Nestle’s. And frozen meat balls of any kind?–that’s a huge no no. Eventhough that big brand name warehouse store which seems pretty responsible could get caught.
Sure I admit that buying frozen hamburger patties–already sliced and formed for that perfect hamburger is easier. I had them once from that big brand name warehouse–years ago. It tasted like blah. Never again. Do you really know what is in there? Do you know if you’re getting the best cut of meat or the cheapest? Me, although I’ve taken the pledge and no red meat for me–if I were eating hamburger far better to buy fresh and make your own hamburger patties. Who cares that they aren’t the perfect fast food copy?
You know the frozen cheeseburger’s that the big fancy warehouse sells? Look at the bread for one. It is MOSTLY bread. The size of the hamburger patty is misleading. Oh you can get it, make it into an open faced sandwich and not get zinged for all that bread. But try microwaving it? First the patty, then the bun separately.
Stay with fresh homemade if you haven’t taken the pledge. And if you have or you are a vegetarian/vegan no worries!
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I’m glad to see this company have to shut the doors on it’s frozen meat plant. What better way to hide horse meat . I’ll never buy another frozen pizza again
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I do believe that I am gonna watch what I buy for ever more- and I live in the United States but – we all know that we can’t trust our Government anymore because the only thing running this country any more is greed, plain and simple, they just want to kill everything and take kick backs and line there pockets with dirty and blood money.
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Nestle owns Purina. Has anyone thought about sending Purina cat and dog food bought in U.S. stores to a DNA testing lab? What about PetsMart’s Authority and Good Value brands? (Much of PetsMart’s in-house brands are sourced in Canada – do we really know what’s in that can or bag?)
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It looks like the French might not be buying horse meat as much as they used to. I thought horse meat was the main meat on the menu in France. Because if the public stopped buying the frozen dinners because of the horse meat being found in it then that’s one EU country that is not eating it anymore. This may be happening all over Europe. The younger generation may not be in the market for this garbage.
If that’s the case then one has to ask yourself where is the horse meat going from Mexico and Canada? Mixed in with the beef would be my idea. Its still there its just being disguised a little better. I doubt the government is bothering to continue to check the meat supply it cost a little money to keep it up.
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Eat more veggies,eat less meat. Health improves.
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Find it odd Nestle owns Purina and supports horse slaughter through the United Horse Coalition which is a front for pro horse slaughter organizations. Anyone can wiki Nestle and find there many brands and avoid them. I have, and I live in the USA! Horse meat in Butoni Ravioli? You sell it here too, no thanks! I don’t trust this was an isolated issue. Bad business!
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Simple. Purina was the Corporation Sued in the Federal Lawsuit for the Horsemeatkilling dogs in the 70s , later added Alpo brand as well. The suit also filed in the same period was for deaths by chicken feeds w horsemeat milled by Purina. Not named in the suit was a settlement in the early 80s which nearly shut down their horse feed line. They were sued for issues relating to horse feeds such as Omelene and Horse Chow that also had rendered horses in the feed, the issue was exposed by a worker and a quality checker ho co oberated thecustomer complaints. After coming to an agreement they agreed with Congress to atop the useage of horse meat which effectively Shut down another remaining US plant which proved the industry was waining. Purina recovered but the jokes remained for years of horsemeat in dog food. However in the US it resulted in deceased and seriously ill animals. A study conducted in the middle 80s restricted the amount of horsemeat for zoos due to bute killing lions and tigers. So why they still use it is a mystery.
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