AN abbatoir boss from Todmorden and one of his managers have been charged by prosecutors after a lengthy investigation into the 2013 horse meat scandal.

Peter Boddy, 64, has been accused of two offences of failing to comply with food regulations over the ‘traceability’ at his slaughterhouse in Hey Head Lane between July 2012 and February 2013.

David Moss, the manager of the abbatoir, has been charged with the same offences, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Prosecutors have now confirmed that the charges do not relate to horse meat being passed off as other produce but instead concern the details kept of the horsemeat as it moved through the food chain.

Moss has also been charged with one offence of forgery, involving a falsified invoice for the sale of horse meat, relating to the same inquiry.

Raids were carried out at the Peter Boddy plant and Farmbox Meats near Aberystwyth.

Sue Patten, head of fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service, said the decision to charge the two men had been made after a joint investigation involving the Food Standards Agency, Dyfed Powys Police and Calderdale Council.

The pair will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on April 14 after the case was adjourned in their absence yesterday.

* Two other men, including the owner of Farmbox Meats, have been charged with mislabelling goat meat as lamb or mutton as part of the same investigation and will appear at the London court on the same date.