It is now feared that as many as 16 countries could be affected by the horse meat scandal as French ministers hold emergency talks later today.
It comes as seven French supermarket chains have now withdrawn frozen beef meals made by Findus and the French manufacturer Comigel following the discovery that some frozen foods sold in Europe contained horse meat.
The controversy began in Ireland last month when officials at the Food Safety Authority here confirmed that they had found as much as 30 per cent equine DNA in frozen beef burgers sold in some supermarkets.
The scandal widened last week when following tests Findus confirmed that 100 per cent horse meat was found in some of its frozen beef lasagne sold in the UK and in Ireland.
Swedish Food company Findus tested 18 of its frozen beef lasagne products from its French supplier Comigel and found 11 meals containing between 60 per cent and 100 per cent horsemeat.
The products have subsequently been removed from supermarkets and consumers have been urged not to eat them if they have already bought them.