The Guardian reports that Peter Boddy (65) was fined £8,000 (€10,877) for not complying with EU meat traceability regulations.

Boddy, who runs a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire, sold 55 carcasses without keeping records of where they were going. He said 37 of these carcasses went to Italian restaurants. A total of 17 animals entered his business without documentation.

The sentencing took place in Southwark crown court in London

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Slaughterhouse manager, David Moss, was also sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for two years. He admitted to forging an invoice with the number of horses sold in a transaction on 12 February 2013.

The judge, Alistair McCreath, said the traceability of food products is extremely important.

"If meat causes ill health, then it is important that those responsible for investigating the cause of it should quickly be able to discover where the meat came from and trace it backwards and backwards and backwards to find where the problem lies and prevent the problem escalating," he said.