Beef from sick Polish cattle delivered to popular restaurant chain in Latvia

Beef from a slaughterhouse in Poland that has been caught butchering sick cattle for meat exports has been delivered also to a popular restaurant chain in Latvia, the Baltic country's food authority said Friday.

Ilze Meistere, a spokeswoman for the Latvian Food and Veterinary Service, informed that 27 kilograms of beef from said Polish slaughterhouse had ended up at Lido restaurant chain but that nine kilograms of that batch remained in the company's storeroom.

However, 18 kilograms of the bad meat were used for making sausages, but luckily, they had not yet reached consumers. Meistere said that all the Polish beef at the Lido storeroom would have to be destroyed.

Checks are being carried out to make sure the meat from the sick cows is not used for making food at Lido eateries.

Thanks to Lido's product traceability system, the food authority has been able to find out how much of the inedible beef from Poland has already been processed and how much remains in the storeroom. All the dangerous ingredients and products will be withdrawn from the market and destroyed, the food authority said.

According to media reports, a slaughterhouse near Ostrow Mazowiecka in northeastern Poland has been butchering sick cows for meat exports. Beef from the sick cattle has reportedly been exported to 11 European Union member states.

Authorities were alerted to the illegal business after secretly filmed footage of what was going on at the slaughterhouse was shown on Polish television.