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Spanish police arrest Dutchman wanted over Europe-wide horsemeat scandal

A Dutchman sentenced to jail in France over a 2013 Europe-wide horsemeat scandal and who is also involved in similar cases elsewhere has been arrested in Spain, police said Wednesday.

Published: 31 July 2019 15:02 CEST

Spanish police arrest Dutchman wanted over Europe-wide horsemeat scandal

Photo: AFP

The man, identified as meat trader Jan Fasen, was arrested at the request of French authorities after a court there sentenced him in his absence to two years jail in April.

Fasen was one of four convicted for having deceived a French company when it sold it 500 tonnes of horsemeat presenting it as beef, which is more expensive.

The company sold frozen meals to 28 different companies in 13 European countries.

The revelation of the fraud in 2013 forced supermarkets across Europe to pull millions of suspect food products such as frozen lasagne and meatballs from their shelves.

Officers arrested Fasen in Spain's eastern seaside resort of Calpe near Benidorm on July 23rd.

Detenido de nuevo el gran traficante de la carne ilegal de caballo, que vivía a todo tren en Calpe https://t.co/ypk5F6OrDs

— Juan Vidal (@juvini100) July 31, 2019

The Madrid-based National Court must now decide whether to allow his extradition to France.

Spanish authorities are already investigating Fasen in a similar affair, uncovered in Spain in 2017, where he allegedly led a gang that sold horsemeat unfit for human consumption across Europe.

He was earlier arrested as part of that case and released on bail pending a trial, the Civil Guard said.

Altogether, 65 people were detained as part of that investigation, including abattoir owners, vets and farmers.

Fasen also has convictions for a similar fraud in 2012 in the Netherlands.

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Why don't Spaniards use kettles?

The British are known the world around for being big tea drinkers. In fact, the UK Tea & Infusions Association (UKTIA) says 84 percent of the UK population drinks tea every day. In Ireland, the average person drinks six to seven cups a day, whereas Australians also love a brew or two but are big coffee drinkers as well.

Logically, tea-drinking foreigners coming on holiday to Spain or even moving here will more than likely want to keep up the same habits.

I’ve lived in Spain a long time, so I’ve swapped my morning tea for a coffee. As a Brit however, I’ll still have at least three teas throughout the day while I’m working. A kettle is still an essential piece of kitchen equipment for me.

It’s not just that Spanish people don’t have kettles in their kitchens, there aren’t very many used anywhere. It’s rare that hotel rooms will have kettles here, even in luxury five-star ones.

Coffeemakers on the other hand are very common. And what’s even more strange is that many hotels will provide tea bags, but no kettle to make the tea with, perhaps expecting you to use heated water from the coffee maker instead. Not ideal as the tea will often have a faint taste of coffee too!

READ ALSO: 14 unusual foods you won’t believe are eaten in Spain

My parents-in-law have even specifically booked hotels on the basis that they’ve stated on their website that they have ‘tea and coffee making facilities’, only to be very miffed and disappointed when they arrive and find no kettle in the room.

This is a fact that very much annoys other friends and family who come to visit too. In fact, it’s been so much of an issue that we’ve now bought a separate travel kettle for guests to take to hotels with them and make their morning tea.

If you’re working in Spain, it’s unlikely that your office or co-working space will have a kettle either. I’m lucky that I work from home and have regular access to a kettle, particularly in winter when we drink several cups a day and use it to fill our hot water bottles at night.

The debate about kettles in Spain has come to light once again because of an Australian guy who went viral on TikTok after he posted a video asking Spaniards why nowhere ever has a kettle, saying that he has to boil his water as if he lived in 1488.

While that’s a strong exaggeration, the point still stands that not many Spaniards have kettles. If they do need to heat water, then they will do so either in the microwave or on the stove top.

While it clearly bothers Brits, Irish and Australians, it’s likely that it doesn’t concern The Local Spain’s American readers, who are used not having electric kettles back home. Stove-top kettles are more common there or they simply go without.

Many Spaniards don’t see the need for having a kettle to boil water faster when they already have a microwave or kitchen hobs. Photo: Jsme MILA / Pexels

Tepid water heated up in the microwave just doesn’t cut it, and also has a completely different taste to water boiled in a kettle. Boiling it on the stove is a better option, but it takes so long compared to just flicking a switch on a kettle.

The general consensus online for the lack of kettles in Spain is that Spaniards aren’t big tea drinkers and simply don’t have the need to boil water on a regular basis.

Instead, coffee is the breakfast drink of choice. According to a survey by Spanish franchise chain Café & Té, 63 percent of Spaniards over the age of 15 have at least one coffee a day.

Spaniards may not have a kettle, but it’s very rare to find one that doesn’t have some type of cafetera or coffeemaker.

READ ALSO: Why do many Spanish apartments not have balconies?

In Spain, tea is something that’s drunk perhaps as a digestive after dinner, it’s not really something that’s consumed in the morning or even throughout the day.

And the teas Spaniards do drink here are different to the strong black English breakfast or builders style tea we have in the UK. The most typical here are herbal or Chinese style teas, which are actually referred to as infusiones (infusions) rather than teas or té.

While black teas, as well as some British brands such as PG Tips and Tetley’s are available in Spanish supermarkets, they’re often a bit watery and tasteless – most Brits I know try to stuff a few boxes into their suitcases when they come back from visiting the UK.

Many big cities in Spain do in fact have a handful of specialised tea shops where you can find a great selection, but again they will mostly be herbal teas and blends with added dried fruits and spices. The Andalusian city of Granada is in fact full of them – left over from its strong Moorish heritage. It even has many Moroccan-style tea rooms.

It’s worth noting that kettles are actually readily available in many stores in Spain, it’s just that not many people buy them.

You can purchase them at many places including El Corte Inglés, Mediamarkt, Hipercor and Carrefour, as well as Amazon online. They’re known as teteras eléctricas or hervidores de agua in Spanish.

Tea is actually becoming increasingly popular in recent years in Spain – albeit – mostly the herbal kind.

Recent data shows that the consumption of infusions and teas in Spain in hotels and restaurants rose after the pandemic to 91 million cups per year. And one in three Spaniards between ages 15 and 75 say that this is their preferred drink.

I very much doubt that tea will surpass coffee as Spaniards’ morning drink of choice, but if it is indeed becoming more popular, there may be hope for kettle-lovers yet.

While it may still take a while before you find a kettle in your Spanish hotel room, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that more Spaniards see the benefits of having a handy hervidor de agua at home.

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