Almost a year after the horsemeat scandal first broke, leading to the discovery of widespread mislabelling and criminal malpractice in the EU's processed meat supply chain, investigations in France have uncovered evidence of more mislabelling and adulteration.

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Police in the South of France have made 21 arrests over allegations that horsemeat intended for laboratory research has been sold into the food chain. Police launched early morning raids on butchers, veterinarians and processing plants, across the South of France and in Northern Spain; the action targeted companies implicated in reports that horses used for medical research by a pharmaceutical company and sold for slaughter, had been issued with false papers and entered the supply chain for human consumption.

Those behind the horsemeat operation, said to have spanned across the south of the country, reportedly doctored horses' papers and sold the animals into the food chain over a period of more than two years, during which time the pharmaceutical company, Sanofi,  estimates it had sold off around 200 horses.

French firm Spanghero was at the centre of the horsemeat scandal, which erupted in January. Company managers were investigated and Spanghero ceased trading, but reopened again earlier in the year.

French ministers have said that, unlike the initial scandal, which was principally an issue of fraudulent mislabelling, these new revelations could have public health implications. However, authorities maintain that there is, as yet, no evidence of harm to the public.

A spokesperson for Sanofi said the horses' blood was used to create vaccines for rabies and tetanus, and that their designation as being 'not fit for human consumption' was merely a precautionary measure. The company has denied any knowledge of the suspected food crimes, claiming it has been the victim of fraud.

Speaking in January, Tim Lang, a professor at London City University's Centre for Food Policy, warned that the initial scandal, which involved horsemeat being passed off as more prestigious meat – beef – revealed systemic problems in the meat supply chain that have wider implications for the current laissez-faire approach to food policy, under which governments have consistently deferred to corporations on food issues.

He said, "When you get standards being cut, costs being cut, corners being cut on what is being delivered, then health and safety can easily become [an issue]. The danger is that if we allow a highly squeezed, very competitive food system to deliver low cost foods then cut them down even further, we will get dangerous foods masquerading as real food."

Also in January, a spokesperson for Ireland's Organic Trust commented, "If we look at all of the recent food scandals - BSE, Dioxins in pork and now burgergate - we have to acknowledge the common thread. All of these problems arise from producers and processors caught in a system where price is king and anything that brings down the price of your produce can mean the difference between survival and bankruptcy."

Independent butchers and organic producers increased sales in the first quarter of 2013 as a result of a crisis of public confidence in the wake of the scandal, which implicated major food processing companies and supermarkets.

The reports from France come just a week after the publication of the government's interim report on the food supply chain, commissioned in response to the horsemeat scandal. The Elliott report makes a number of recommendations, mostly in the area of enforcement.