"The tests will be on DNA in meat products in all member states," European Union health commissioner Tonio Borg told reporters after a ministerial meeting in Brussels to discuss the affair.

The initial one-month testing plan would include premises handling horsemeat to check whether potentially harmful equine medicine residues have entered the food chain, Borg said, with the first results expected by mid-Arpil.

The scandal erupted when tests carried out in Ireland revealed that meat in products labelled as beef was in fact up to 100 per cent horsemeat. Operators in at least eight EU countries have since been dragged into the affair, raising fears of a pan-European labelling fraud.

Officials have said no risk to public health from the adulterated foods has been identified at this stage but testing for horse medicine in meat is being undertaken to be sure.

The suspected fraud has caused particular outrage in Britain, where many view the idea of eating horsemeat with distaste, and exposed flaws in food controls.

"This is impacting on the integrity of the food chain, which is a really significant issue for a lot of countries. Now that we know this is a European problem, we need a European solution," Irish farm minister Simon Coveney told reporters before the meeting.

At the urging of ministers, Borg said the Commission would accelerate work on potential changes to EU labelling rules that would force companies to state the country of origin on processed meat products.

Currently the requirement only applies to fresh beef, and is expected to be extended to fresh lamb, pork and poultry from December 2014.

But EU officials have warned privately that the complexity of supply chains would make the requirement almost impossible to implement in practice.

EU and national authorities are still trying to uncover the source of the suspected horsemeat fraud.

"All those countries through which this meat product has passed of course are under suspicion," Borg told a news briefing earlier on Wednesday. "By the countries, I mean the companies in those countries which dealt with this meat product."

He added that it would be unfair at this stage to point the finger at any organisation in particular.

Not just horse?

On Jan. 15, routine tests by Ireland’s Food Safety Authority found horsemeat in frozen beef burgers produced by firms in Ireland and Britain and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer.

Concerns grew last week when the British unit of frozen foods group Findus began recalling packets of beef lasagna on advice from its French supplier Comigel, after tests showed up to 100 per cent of the meat in them was horse.

The affair has since implicated operators and middlemen in a range of EU countries, from abattoirs in Romania and factories in Luxembourg to traders in Cyprus and food companies in France.

Germany said it was investigating a consignment of beef lasagna sent from Luxembourg to an unnamed retailer in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on suspicion it might contain horsemeat.

The first evidence that the labelling scandal could go beyond horsemeat also emerged when the upmarket British grocer Waitrose said its testing found that some of its frozen British beef meatballs might contain pork.

The firm, part of the John Lewis Partnership, has withdrawn the product from sale.

Horsemeat is traditionally prized by many consumers in EU countries such as France, Italy and Belgium.

— Charlie Dunmore and Adrian Croft are Reuters correspondents based in Brussels and London respectively.

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The horsemeat scandal affecting a growing number of European countries began in Ireland after its food safety authority discovered horsemeat in frozen beef burgers.

The discovery led such major food companies as Tesco and Burger King to drop their Irish producers and Irish investigators to point the finger at Poland as the country of origin for raw materials that contained as much as 75 per cent horse DNA. Poland has disputed the findings.

The decision to ask Irish manufacturers of processed meat products to carry out DNA testing was "a necessary step in order to provide further reassurance to Irish consumers and consumers of Irish food abroad," Ireland’s agriculture department said.

Ireland, which holds the EU presidency, also called a meeting of ministers from European countries affected by the horsemeat scandal.

Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney wants Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels to discuss "whatever steps may be necessary at EU level to comprehensively address this matter", it said.

European Union health commissioner Tonio Borg and ministers from EU countries affected by the horsemeat scandal will attend. The issue will also be on the agenda of the next formal meeting of EU agriculture ministers on Feb. 25, Ireland said.

Concern grew last week when the British unit of frozen foods group Findus began recalling its beef lasagne on advice from its French supplier, Comigel, after tests showed concentrations of horsemeat in a range from 60 to 100 percent.

Comigel said the questionable meat came from Romania.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, said on Monday it had found horse DNA exceeding 60 percent in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals withdrawn from stores last week.

Conspiracy

In Britain, where eating horsemeat is taboo, farm minister Owen Paterson has said he suspects an "international criminal conspiracy" lies behind the affair. The French and British governments have vowed to punish those found responsible.

Adding to concerns are indications that some horsemeat, perfectly edible in itself, may contain a drug known as phenylbutazone, also known as "bute," a common, anti-inflammatory painkiller for sporting horses but banned for animals intended for human consumption.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has said it regards the horsemeat scandal as a labelling issue rather than a health concern.

Romania’s prime minister said on Monday any fraud over horsemeat sold as beef had not happened in his country and he was angered by suggestions it might have been.

"From all the data we have at the moment, there is no breach of European rules committed by companies from Romania or on Romanian territory," Victor Ponta told a news conference. "I am very angry, to be honest."

An initial French investigation revealed that the horsemeat ended up in Comigel’s Luxembourg factory, supplied by a French firm, and that a Dutch and Cypriot trader had also been involved. However, the meat originally came from a Romanian abattoir.

At the planned EU meeting, France wants to raise the question of origin labelling for meat in processed products, French farm minister Stephane Le Foll said on Monday.

French government inspectors are currently going through the sales records of Comigel to see if any products liable to contain mislabelled horsemeat are still on the market despite the withdrawal of products by six retail chains.

— Adrian Croft is a U.K. reporter for Reuters; Padraic Halpin is a Reuters correspondent in Dublin.

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