法国慈善团体欲向穷人发放马肉

FROZEN meals containing horsemeat may be given to the needy.

Charities have put up their hands to claim meals that have been yanked from retail shelves as the growing horsemeat scandal engulfs Europe.

Three French charities say they’re prepared to hand out thousands of frozen dinners that contain horsemeat.

Six French supermarkets have recalled - or are planning to recall - ready-made meals found to contain horsemeat, despite being labelled as beef.

The charities, Restos du Coeur (Restaurants with Heart), Secours Populaire (People Rescue) and Banque Alimentaire (The Food Bank) want to get hold of the meals and re-distribute them among their clients.

The three charities met last week to try to work out a plan of action, according to English-language French newspaper The Local.

''Above all, these cannot be thrown out. If the meals are safe, we will take them,'' a branch manager from Secours Populaire told Europe 1 radio.

Philippe Le Mescam, head of the Brittany branch of Restos du Coeur said, ''It would be scandalous to destroy all these tonnes of food, if tests show that they don’t pose a health risk.''

The meals would also have to be re-labelled before being handed out, as their packaging wrongly suggests they only contain beef.

A spokeswoman for Restos du Coeur said the charity wouldn't accept meals for the moment, saying there were many health issues to be sorted out before they could be redistributed.

''Our goal is to fight waste. These products are now in storage, awaiting some sort of resolution. So if they can’t be sold, we could take them and distribute them to deprived people,'' said director of the French Federation of Food Banks, Maurice Lony.

The food scandal began on January 15 when horse DNA was discovered in frozen beef burgers sold in Irish and British supermarkets.

Further investigations revealed horsemeat was also in frozen packaged beef lasagna and spaghetti bolognese as well as meatballs. The meat has been traced to European abattoirs.