Meat firm apologizes over labelling scandal
Faced with dropping sales in the wake of a scandal about falsely labelled products, Switzerland’s fifth largest meat company, Carna Grisha, has issued an apology and announced measures intended to reassure customers.
A report from SonntagsBlick on Sunday alleged that the Graubunden-based company had sold horse meat as beef, Hungarian chicken as Swiss and frozen meat as fresh.
The company initially said the cases were isolated but it conducted an internal investigation that revealed several dozen irregularities before May 2013.
Two employees who continued to mis-label meat after that date were dismissed last week, SFR reported.
“These incidents are unacceptable and in total contradiction with the directives in force at Carna Grischa,” Ettore Weilenmann, chairman of Carna Grischa told a press conference on Wednesday.
The company said that customers could count on receiving properly labelled meat in the future, he said, according to the SFR report.
It said extra measures were being put in place to assure quality control through laboratory tests of samples and an outside expert verifying shipments.
The company is also setting up an internet platform to allow clients to anonymously make their concerns known.
Weilenmann acknowledged that the company has lost clients as a result of the scandal and that sales could drop by 30 percent.
The Obersee Bilingual School, an English-German private school in Pfäffikon in the canton of Schwyz cut its contract with Carna Grisha, which provided meat for the school’s cafeteria, once the “irregularities” became known.
Also at least two catering companies managing 60 cafeterias and 50 restaurants have also dropped the meat company as a supplier, 20 Minutes newspaper said.
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A report from SonntagsBlick on Sunday alleged that the Graubunden-based company had sold horse meat as beef, Hungarian chicken as Swiss and frozen meat as fresh.
The company initially said the cases were isolated but it conducted an internal investigation that revealed several dozen irregularities before May 2013.
Two employees who continued to mis-label meat after that date were dismissed last week, SFR reported.
“These incidents are unacceptable and in total contradiction with the directives in force at Carna Grischa,” Ettore Weilenmann, chairman of Carna Grischa told a press conference on Wednesday.
The company said that customers could count on receiving properly labelled meat in the future, he said, according to the SFR report.
It said extra measures were being put in place to assure quality control through laboratory tests of samples and an outside expert verifying shipments.
The company is also setting up an internet platform to allow clients to anonymously make their concerns known.
Weilenmann acknowledged that the company has lost clients as a result of the scandal and that sales could drop by 30 percent.
The Obersee Bilingual School, an English-German private school in Pfäffikon in the canton of Schwyz cut its contract with Carna Grisha, which provided meat for the school’s cafeteria, once the “irregularities” became known.
Also at least two catering companies managing 60 cafeterias and 50 restaurants have also dropped the meat company as a supplier, 20 Minutes newspaper said.
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