AMSTERDAM (AP) - A Dutch court on Thursday upheld a decision by the country's Food and Consumer Product Authority to recall 50,000 tonnes of meat sold across Europe as beef.

The agency said it fears the meat, which came from a processing plant named after its owner Willy Selten, may have had horse meat mixed into it. It said an investigation of Selten's records showed more meat leaving his plant than arriving.

Lawyers for Selten have said his meat could all be accounted for, and the recall was a disproportionate measure.

Judge Reinier van Zutphen in The Hague ruled that Selten had failed to establish the urgency required for him to order a halt to the recall.

"Because of the lack of urgency, the judge can't rule on the legality of the substance of the request," judge Van Zutphen said. "The arguments made by the party seeking the halt, including the appeal against the proportionality of the measure, can therefore not be judged."

On Tuesday, a court in the southern city of Den Bosch declared Selten's business bankrupt.