ChatterBank3 mins ago
Horse Meat Problem ?
Leaving aside sentimentallity. Should we and or our pets eat horse meat.?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I thought pets already got to eat horsemeat.
If people in this country want to eat horse, thats fine, provided they can be assured that the meat has been through all the proper checks for meat destined for the human food chain, and is clearly labelled as horse.
And that is really what all this recent scandal has been about - the passing off of horsemeat as beef, with apparently little or no checks as to its suitability for human consumption. We, the consumer, have been ripped off- paying a premium for products labelled 100% beef, which have in fact been adulterated - in some cases, to the extent that they contain no beef whatsoever.
The retailers and wholesalers have not done a very good job of regulating the food chain. and the government were short-sighted in changing the remit of the FSA, downsizing the agency and farming out testing to local authorities without any ringfencing, resulting in some local authorities performing no quality checks whatsoever.
If people in this country want to eat horse, thats fine, provided they can be assured that the meat has been through all the proper checks for meat destined for the human food chain, and is clearly labelled as horse.
And that is really what all this recent scandal has been about - the passing off of horsemeat as beef, with apparently little or no checks as to its suitability for human consumption. We, the consumer, have been ripped off- paying a premium for products labelled 100% beef, which have in fact been adulterated - in some cases, to the extent that they contain no beef whatsoever.
The retailers and wholesalers have not done a very good job of regulating the food chain. and the government were short-sighted in changing the remit of the FSA, downsizing the agency and farming out testing to local authorities without any ringfencing, resulting in some local authorities performing no quality checks whatsoever.
prudie #Isn't sentimentality the only question - or do you specifically mean horsemeat from an unknown source with unknown dietary additives? #
I was referring to the eating horse meat in general terms rather than anything specific. Eating horsemeat is taboo in many places in the world
but especially where horses are treated as pets, or for work. Most of the English speaking world and in much of South America. It is taboo.
It was also the case in much of Europe but during periods of starvation and the French revolution they started to eat their horses.
Our eating habits change when we have little choice . I remember eating whale meat when we had nothing else to eat, but I've never heard about it since. I digress but we could solve the grey squirrel problem if they were on the menu.
I was referring to the eating horse meat in general terms rather than anything specific. Eating horsemeat is taboo in many places in the world
but especially where horses are treated as pets, or for work. Most of the English speaking world and in much of South America. It is taboo.
It was also the case in much of Europe but during periods of starvation and the French revolution they started to eat their horses.
Our eating habits change when we have little choice . I remember eating whale meat when we had nothing else to eat, but I've never heard about it since. I digress but we could solve the grey squirrel problem if they were on the menu.
Horses are not farm animals they are 'companion' animals and also work with (not for) humans. There are enough meat animals in the world we do not NEED to eat horses. For me eating a horse would be like eating a dog - any dog -just like any horse. Horses are more intelligent than other farm animals much on the same level as dogs -I've had horses for over 40 years, along with being in a farm environment all my life, our family farming sheep and cattle for meat and breeding. I can see no problem in allowing equine fallen stock to be used in the pet food industry and understand that in some eastern European countries horses are bred for meat but for me personally that doesn't make it any less wrong, just as eating a cat or dog would be.
Its true, she showed me the photos. She didn't compete but she was well known locally as a teenager, she used to go to the local shows and do demo rounds jumping the pony height fences. she used a headcollar with reins on, no bit or saddle. She was in her 70's when I knew her, her Dad had a dairy farm in the midlands. She was a patient of mine a few years ago.