THREE men arrested in connection with the horsemeat mis-labelling scandal have been released on bail as the investigation continues. 

The Food Standards Agency said it passed on evidence from two premises in Tottenham and one in Hull to Europol - the European Union's law enforcement agency - after investigators removed meat samples for testing.

The move comes after Dafydd Raw-Rees, 64, owner of Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth, and a 42-year-old man, were arrested in Wales on Thursday on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.

A 63-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence at Peter Boddy Slaughterhouse in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

The men have been released pending further inquiries and will return to answer bail in Aberystwyth at a later date, Dyfed Powys Police said.

Evidence is being examined from three more plants.

The chief executive of the Food Standards Agency has admitted it is unlikely the exact number of people in the UK who have unwittingly eaten horsemeat will ever be known.

Catherine Brown said testing was the right way to address the issue and said the focus would be on areas of higher risk, but she admitted that how many people who had unknowingly eaten horsemeat was likely to be impossible to ascertain.

"I don't think that we ever will (know how many), because these tests are a snapshot, so even where we find things it is very hard to work out how long, what number of batches, so I think it is unlikely that we will ever know that.

"It is shocking.”