BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- has said that managers, not workers, at the French meat processing firm, Spanghero, were responsible for passing off horsemeat as beef. The accusation comes as Britain said it would investigate claims that warnings about horsemeat entering the food chain were raised in 2011, but ignored.

The French government says an investigation has revealed "serious, specific and coherent" reasons to suspect Spanghero knowingly defrauded customers and consumers. But they say the firm’s 330 workers were not to blame.

Spanghero workers will meet with France’s Agriculture Minister, Stephane Le Foll, on Monday to determine how they will be paid until the plant can reopen.

Meanwhile, the UK is set to launch an investigation of its own after a report by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper. The report says John Young, a former manager with Britain’s Food Standards Agency, helped draft a letter to the government in April 2011. It highlighted failures in the system to stop horses treated with the drug Phenylbutazone from entering the human food chain, but nothing was done.

(Source: CNTV.cn)