SCANDAL

Brits Raid Suspected Horsemeat Sellers

While French open judicial investigation.

British police and meat regulators on Tuesday night raided a slaughterhouse and a processing plant suspected of selling horsemeat as beef while French prosecutors opened a judicial investigation into whether the horsemeat was sold fraudulently. In Britain, selling horsemeat is not illegal, but eating it is taboo. The British regulator, Food Standards Agency, said it had suspended operations at a slaughterhouse in northern England and a processor in Wales, and the head of the agency is due to meet with European Union regulators in Brussels. The scandal began when burgers packaged as beef in Ireland were discovered to actually be horsemeat, and it has since spread to as many as 16 other countries. On Tuesday upscale British supermarket chain Waitrose pulled frozen meatballs from the shelves.