What happened with the popular Findus Beef Lasagne that evolved into a global crisis

1. Crisis Management lab
Panteion University
Advertising & Public Relations LAB
3/26/13 1Crisis management

2. Findus Horsemeat Scandal 2013

3. ABOUT Findus
Frozen food brand
1st sold in Sweden in 1945
1962 – 2000 owned by NESTLE
As of 2013 Findus Group owns Findus brand in
most European countries

4. ABOUT Findus
FINDUS produces ready meals, peas and
crispy Pancakes and supplies big-name
super markets in Europe.
A firm fixture in the UK for more than 50 years
The company had global sales of more
than 1bn$ in 2011

5. INVOLVEMENT IN THE HORSE
MEAT SCANDAL
On 7 February 2013, it was revealed that the
Findus beef lasagne range in the UK,
France and Sweden and the shepherd΄s
pies and moussaka contained horse
meat without proper declaration.

6. INVOLVEMENT IN THE HORSE
MEAT SCANDAL
Out of 18 products 11
tested positive for horsemeat.

7. Beef lasagnes contained
100%
horse meat.

9. INVOLVEMENT IN THE HORSE
MEAT SCANDAL
In the case of beef lasagnes, Findus
announced that had supplied the meat by a
French company (Spanghero).

10. INVOLVEMENT IN THE HORSE
MEAT SCANDAL
The horsemeat came from a Romanian
producer via the french meat-processing
firm Spanghero.
The ready meals were all produced in
Luxembourg by French supplier Comigel.

11. SUPPLY CHAIN
COMIGEL  SPANGHERO  FINDUS

12. Findus Group SCANDAL
HIT
United Kingdom
France
Sweden
Ireland
Romania
+ (Maybe 11 EU countries)

13. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
04/02/13 : The company was alerted by a third
party French supplier.
It ran DNA tests on its beef lasagne products.
 The results: over than 1/2 of tested products
contained horse tissue.

14. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
Findus UK withdrew all products related to the
third party supplier “Comigel” as a precaution.
Findus said the product was manufactured by
a third party supplier and not by Findus. The
frozen food company said all its other products
had been tested and were not affected.

15. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
08/02/13: Findus UK published a public
apology on
their website.

16. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
"We understand this is a very sensitive subject
for consumers and we would like to reassure
you we have reacted immediately. We do not
believe this to be a food safety issue.’’

17. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
"We are confident that we have fully resolved
this supply chain issue.’’
"We would like to take this opportunity to
apologize to our customers for any
inconvenience caused."

18. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
Findus UK announced that the 320, 350
and 500 gram packages of Findus Beef
Lasagne were affected,
and the company
offered a refund for
products purchased.

19. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
In Sweden, Findus announced a recall of its
375 gram packs with code 63957 &
released a contact number for customers
who had already purchased the products.

20. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
Findus Nordic begun legal action against
Comigel and its subsuppliers.
Findus Nordic CEO
Jari Latvanen said
Sunday in an
interview with CNN.
"Comigel is the
villain.’’

21. HOW DID FINDUS DEAL WITH IT?
Findus said that early results of an internal
investigation shows that the horse meat
contamination of a beef lasagne product
"was not accidental"

22. COMIGEL
Comigel has not responded to CNN's requests
for comment & it took its website down,
posting a sign that it is "under construction”.
On 21/02/13 Comigel made a statement on its
Website and called itself “a victim of a fraud’’.

23. THE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECT
NO Twitter account.
Several tweets
from disappointed
consumers or
funny, negative
and offensive
comments from
Users.

24. THE SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECT
On Findus Facebook Page: many negative
comments and posts from users.
The company is interactive and answers to
questions and comments.

27. BUT..
No Facebook for UK or USA citizens so there
aren’t English posts or comments
 people can’t be informed

28. On 8/03/13 Findus posted a video on Facebook
and a link from the official Findus site with a public
statement.
The person talking is the Chef of Findus of 22 years.
He apologizes for what happened and ensures the
consumers for the quality of company’s products.
Additional, through this video, Findus invites 1,500
consumers to Bjuv to show what happens when
Findus cooks.

30. http://news.yahoo.com/video/findus-beef-
meals-made-horsemeat-182212169.html

31. SOURCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findus
http://www.englishblog.com/2013/02/reuters-video-findus-beef-
meals-made-from-horsemeat.html
http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/07/some-findus-beef-lasagne-meals-
100-horse-meat-3398466/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/horsemeat-lasagna-
beef_n_2639321.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/10/world/europe/uk-horsemeat-
probe
http://www.comigel.com/
http://news.yahoo.com/video/findus-beef-meals-made-horsemeat-
182212169.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/horse-meat-found-
lasagna-sold-british-grocery-stores-article-1.1258877
http://www.findus.co.uk/

32. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
Alexou Mirella
Alevropoulou Alexia
Dimitrakopoulou Aikaterini
Papantonopoulos Giannis
Pappa Stella
Mania Xenou, Instructor, CEO at Reliant Communications
Betty Tsakarestou, Assistant Professor, Head of Adv. & PR Lab
Crisis management 32