Brussels calls for DNA tests across EU on beef products

(BRUSSELS) - The EU's executive on Wednesday said it would call on all European Union states to carry out DNA tests on beef products to check the presence of horsemeat.

The recommendation was part of a plan devised by the European Commission to contain Europe's horsemeat scandal, the bloc's health commissioner Tonio Borg said at the close of crisis talks with countries embroiled in the food crisis.

Borg said the Commission would also suggest that the bloc's 27 members carry out checks for a veterinary drug -- phenylbutazone -- that can be dangerous to humans in all establishments handling raw horsemeat.

The proposal would be examined Friday at an extraordinary meeting of the EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain called to face the crisis caused by the sale of horsemeat disguised as beef.

If agreed it would go to talks between the EU's agricultural ministers scheduled for February 25, he said.

Borg also said Europol, the EU police agency, would coordinate inquiries currently being carried out in countries affected by the crisis.