Dealer in German rotten meat probe commits suicide

A German meat distributor at the centre of a widening police probe into the sale of rotten meat and vegetables has committed suicide, police in the southern city of Munich said on Wednesday.

The 74-year-old’s company is at the heart of a European food safety scare after police last week impounded more than 120 tonnes of tainted meat, some of it more than four years out-of-date, at buildings and cold stores belonging to the firm.

They raided restaurants and launched an investigation into whether tainted produce was sold with altered sell-by dates.

Police found another 60 tonnes of rotten meat and 40 tonnes of rotten vegetables at the distribution firm on Wednesday, following the owner’s suicide earlier in the morning.

The firm was close to bankruptcy, police inspector Josef Wilfling told a news conference, adding that a web of suspect meat sales to fast food stands in Germany was emerging.

Meat had been thawed, processed and refrozen, Wilfling said, adding that he feared the existence of a corrupt “doner kebab mafia”, supplying some of Germany’s ubiquitous kebab stands with thick skewers made up of rotten meat.

“Not all kebab stands can be put under general suspicion,” Wilfling said, adding that only a few criminals were involved.

The meat distributor was the main suspect in the investigations but police believe others were involved. Prosectors had requested access to company accounts before the man committed suicide and had been hoping he would cooperate.

Officials in Brussels said rotten produce from the company may have reached consumers in eight other European Union countries in recent weeks.

Before the raids, the Munich-based company had managed to export some 90 tonnes of meat and other foodstuffs, Commission spokesman Philip Tod told a news briefing.

The countries concerned were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Netherlands.

They were immediately notified by the Commission through its electronic warning network known as the Rapid Alert system, which allows other EU countries to identify risks to the food and feed chain within the shortest space of time possible.

The company supplied 2,500 customers, 50 of which were outside the country.

“It seems that the ‘eat-by’ date had been changed but in fact the meat was old and putrid. That was what was concluded by the Bavarian authorities,” Tod said.

The scare comes less than a year after Germany tightened controls on the meat industry following national outrage over another stomach-turning food scandal. It has sparked a debate over the failures of Germany’s federal system where the national government is often oblivious to regional investigations.

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