The 'horsemeat' scandal appears to have reared up once more in Europe, as a large-scale meat fraud was uncovered in the Netherlands and horsemeat tainted with a harmful veterinary drug was discovered in Asda corned beef.

On Tuesday, supermarket chain Asda announced that it has issued a recall on its Smart Price Corned Beef, and warned customers who have purchased the product that they should return it to the store for a refund. The corned beef was found to contain horsemeat contaminated with phenylbutazone, a drug used to treat lameness, which carries health risks. As such, its use is prohibited on food animals.

The contamination was discovered by Asda, during routine industry testing. Food Standards Agency officials said on Tuesday that the beef "has been found to contain very low levels of bute (four parts per billion) and is the only meat product where bute has been found" since the meat crisis began in January. In fact, bute has been detected this year in horse carcasses exported from the UK to France, where the meat is consumed more widely.

Far reaching contamination of processed meat products with meat from other animals was first discovered in Ireland during tests conducted by the Food Standards Agency of Ireland. Since the beginning of the year, the scandal has spread across the EU.  

In addition to horsemeat, which has been discovered at levels up to 100 percent in a number of products labelled as containing beef, pork DNA was also discovered in some products in the UK, including a number that had been sold as Halal.

On Wednesday, Dutch authorities announced that 50,000 tonnes of processed meat supplied by two different companies and sold as beef has been recalled. According to the authorities, contaminated meat from the companies could potentially have been distributed across the EU for over two years.

Wiljo Import en Export BV and Willy Selten, based in and around Oss in the South of the country, are the latest meat buyers to be implicated in the scandal. Officials said the discovery could have knock-on effects for almost 400 other companies across Europe.

Dutch authorities orchestrating a recall on the meat said they do not believe it poses any health risks, but the company's records are unclear on the source of suspect meat sold between January 2011 and February this year. Further results from EU-wide meat testing are expected next week.

EU legislators are set to vote on regulatory changes aimed at tackling food fraud over coming weeks, however, critics have said an "unsustainable and adversarial" food system is at the root of the problem.

Local, independent and organic retailers have benefitted as a result of the meat crisis. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed that in February, at the height of the scandal in Britain, supermarket sales of organic goods rose to their highest level in 9 months, rising 8.4 percent on January levels, and certification body the Soil Association revealed independent organic meat suppliers had reported an increase in sales of up to 20 percent over the same period.