BRUSSELS (AP) -- European Union ministers are looking at better ways to trace processed food across the continent and eliminate fraud amid a widening food scandal in which horsemeat was sold as beef to unwitting consumers.

Wednesday's emergency meeting at EU headquarters included nations most affected by the horsemeat scandal. Those are Britain, Ireland, France, Romania, Poland, Luxembourg and Sweden.

The ministers were eager for answers and aimed to make sure the 27-nation bloc would put better checks on processed food in place.

The ministers said so far the discovery of horsemeat sold as beef did not raise any consumer health issues, only a suspicion of fraud.

In Britain and Ireland there is great sensitivity about eating horse, but that does not exist in other EU nations like France and Belgium.

Copyright 2013 The AP.