Companies which commit food fraud should be ‘named and shamed’ at a European level, junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma said in an interview with the Volkskrant on Wednesday.

‘At a European level I have called for a list of people who have been found guilty of food fraud,’ she said. ‘Naming and shaming allows us to warn other countries.’

The opposition Liberal party D66 says the food safety body NVWA needs a further 50 inspectors to end the fiddling with food but Dijksma told the paper she is not sure how effective that will be, or how it would be paid for.

It is increasingly difficult to track down food fraud because the food chain – from farm to plate – is getting longer. ‘Take the horse meat situation,’ she said. ‘That came from Romania and Luxembourg and ended up in a Dutch chill room. Then it went to another country to end up as beef in French lasagne.’

The entire sector, from farms to supermarkets, must be involved in making the food chain shorter, she said. MPs are due to debate food safety issues with Dijksma and health minister Edith Schippers on Thursday.