THE businessman at the centre of a Europe-wide fraud inwhich falsely labelled horsemeat led to thousands of tonnes of meat beingrecalled was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Tuesday.

A Dutch court found that two meat wholesalers owned by WillySelten had bought and processed a minimum of 330 tonnes (336,000 kg) ofhorsemeat in 2011 and 2012, selling it on to customers who believed they werebuying pure beef.

"By selling largely to foreign buyers he contributed toa negative image of the Dutch beef industry, causing damage to the sector"for his own profit, the district court in Den Bosch said. Selten got half thejail term prosecutors had demanded. Agriculture is crucial to the economy of the Netherlands,which, despite having a population of just 17 million people, is the world'ssecond-largest agricultural exporter.

The horsemeat scandal broke in January 2013 after genetictests found traces of horsemeat in burgers sold at two British supermarkets.Adulterated beef products were discovered across Europe, with suppliers inFrance and the Netherlands also found to have mislabelled horsemeat.Selten had told the court that the mislabelling was due tocarelessness and was unintentional.

But the court rejected this explanation,pointing out that accounts and invoices did not indicate that the company dealtin horsemeat at all.According to prosecutors, Selten's companies bought 300tonnes of horsemeat from suppliers in the Netherlands, Ireland and Britain in2011 and 2012, selling it to more than 500 companies across Europe.The scandal led to at least 50,000 tonnes of meat beingrecalled across the region.