The French firm at the heart of Europe's food crisis vowed Friday to prove its innocence, as two more countries confirmed their supermarkets had sold ready-to-eat "beef" meals containing horsemeat. Meat-processing firm Spanghero again insisted it was not responsible for the mislabelling that has seen supermarket chains across the continent pull millions of suspect food products from their shelves.

France on Thursday pinned much of the blame for Europe's horse scandal on a French firm that allegedly sold 750 tonnes of horsemeat as beef that ended up in millions of ready-to-eat meals sold across the continent. The move came as police in Britain arrested three men suspected of passing horse off as beef, and as Germany joined the ranks of countries where frozen "beef" lasagne was found to contain horsemeat.

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Following is a summary of current odd news briefs. Don't say nay to horsemeat: French eaters PARIS (Reuters) - In a dingy Parisian back street, diners at a one-of-a-kind bistro tuck lustily into breaded horse brain, pan fried heart of horse and broiled cheek, along with prime rump steaks the chef cuts from the bone himself. Seasoned aficionados queuing at one of the few horse butchers left in Paris say they prefer theirs raw as minced "tartare", pepped up with olive oil, lemon juice and pepper.