Agriculture minister Gerda Verburg will not have to apologise publicly for her negative comments about meat firm Friesland Vlees in a tv interview earlier this year, a court in The Hague ruled on Monday.

Verburg said she had put the company was under permanent surveillance because a whistleblower claimed there were problems with live animal shipments to its slaughterhouse. No irregularities were found.
The court said that the minister had since nuanced her statements.