Germany investigating possible new meat scandal

BERLIN (Reuters) - Prosecutors are investigating a possible new European meat scandal in northern Germany, officials said on Wednesday, after media there reported a factory was suspected of processing contaminated meat. Prosecutors in the state of Lower Saxony started investigating a meat processing factory after authorities carried out tests there in June, a spokesman for the state's consumer protection ministry said on Wednesday. The business faces suspicions of issuing false labels and documents about the origin of the meat, the spokesman said. He said however the authorities had no evidence that bad meat had been distributed for sale. Reuters was unable to reach a company spokesperson for comment although local media said it had rejected press allegations of large scale processing of contaminated meat. Earlier this year horsemeat was found in processed products like ready meals in a Europe-wide scandal. (Reporting By Sarah Marsh and Hans-Edzard Busemann; editing by Barry Moody)