Police investigating allegations that horsemeat was mislabelled as beef have arrested three men on suspicion of offences under the Fraud Act.
Two men, aged 64 and 42, were held at Farmbox Meats Ltd, of Llandre near Aberystwyth, said Dyfed-Powys Police.
A 63-year-old was arrested at the Peter Boddy Licensed Slaughterhouse, in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.
Both companies have strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
The Food Standards Agency suspended operations at both sites after raids at the premises on Tuesday.
It also seized meat found on the premises as well as paperwork, including customer lists from the two companies.
The West Yorkshire plant is reported to have supplied horse carcasses to the Aberystwyth plant, which were then allegedly sold on as beef for kebabs and burgers.
One of the men arrested at Farmbox Meats is believed to be the firm's owner Dafydd Raw Rees, the BBC understands.
Concerns about horsemeat first came to light on 15 January when tests by Irish authorities found horsemeat in beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK and sold in supermarket chains including Tesco and Aldi.
A growing number of UK retailers have since recalled processed beef products found to contain horsemeat. And last week the British unit of frozen foods giant Findus started to recall its beef lasagne on advice from its French supplier, Comigel, after tests showed concentrations of horsemeat.
The three arrests came as the FSA said that tests found eight horses, killed in the UK, tested positive for the painkiller bute and six may have entered the food chain in France.
But England's chief medical officer said the highest level detected posed "very little risk to human health".
The prime minister's spokesman said the UK was working closely with the French authorities to track the carcasses.
FSA rules which came into force this week mean all horsemeat in the UK will be tested for bute before it is allowed to be sold for food.
In other developments:
- The French processing company that supplied Findus sold meat labelled as beef despite knowing it could have been horsemeat, the French government has said. Spanghero had previously said it was a victim of its supplier but officials said it appeared the Romanian company had acted in good faith
- The European Union is urging member states to conduct random tests for horsemeat in processed beef products
- Horsemeat has been detected in frozen lasagne on sale in Germany and supermarkets have started removing the product from their shelves
- Beef has been removed from school meals across Staffordshire as a precautionary measure amid the horsemeat scandal
- A company that supplies frozen burgers to some Northern Ireland schools has recalled them as "precautionary measure" after being told by a supplier the products were undergoing additional testing
- In Wales, Conservative rural affairs spokeswoman Antoinette Sandbach has called for local authorities to test all meat entering the public sector food chain
- A meat processing factory in the Irish Republic, Rangeland Foods in County Monaghan, has withdrawn some batches of burger products which contained beef supplied from Poland - some of which were found to contain between 5-30% horsemeat
- A report from the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee called for the FSA to have stronger powers to force meat producers to carry out testing
- Food minister David Heath said tests on Findus beef meals found to contain horsemeat were negative
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