I Have Lived In..........

[Jeza]

France, many moons ago. I don't understand the fuss about eating horse meat. I understand you may not choose to, as I didn't. I do think this 'scandal' is a mountain from a molehill.

[Maydup]

I think its the deception and the shortcutting more then the meat itself Jeza.

Gready supermarket cheating barstewards.

[vodkancoke]

Yep, us Italians have eaten it too. It's in salami, bresaola and mortadella. I think the "scandal" is because the manufacturers are not declaring it's in there allowing people to think they are eating beef. I think there was also a concern about horses that had been euthanised as it can leave a trace of it in the meat which may be harmful to us humanoids.

[vodkancoke]

Sorry, I should say it can be found in salami, bresaola and mortadella.

[Jeza]

I agree with both of you. Are the retailers really to blame, or their suppliers?

[venator]

It's the European racketeers in the first place, and then the supermarkets who don't control the supply chain.

[hc4361]

All meat that we in the UK eat must be legally declared as fit for human consumption, has to go through rigorous checks to ensure that it is. It is traceable from farm to slaughter to wholesale to retail.

This is not the case with food that has been contaminated with meat other than as described. I have no problem eating horsemeat if it has passed the tests and is fit for me to eat; I have chosen to buy horsemeat and it is as described.

If I buy 100% beef beefburgers and it isn't, I worry. If the 'other' meat is horse that cannot be traced to food industry standard I have every right to be very angry and very worried.

How do I know the horse isn't diseased or full of drugs that make it unfit for my consumption? Why is it in my food when it should be 100% beef?

There is nothing wrong with eating horse that has passed the tests and that is what I chose to buy and eat.

[woofgang]

It's as basic as If I want to eat a specific item, I shouldn't be lied to, if a shop sells a product stating that it is x, then I don't expect to find y in it.
A chain of stores in the US has been shut down for selling sugar free cakes and confectionary with sugar on and fat free stuff with fat in .....same principle.

[Buenchico]

As I see it, the problem is more about deception than about the actual content of products. In France or (more usually) Belgium I'll actively seek out restaurants serving horse steaks (delicious!) but I'd still like to have confidence in the labelling of what I eat in the UK (or anywhere else).

[cecil39]

I agree with all you say folks, so much fuss has been made about fat, salt,sugar and callorie content, it beggers belief that the main ingredients should not be fully and properly listed, and I still think had the "faulty" products been relabled and reduced in price it would have been bought by people like me who detest such waste, yes, how can we now trust what is on the label, what else are "they" trying to hide.

[wimp]

I would try horse meat. I think the problem lies in the deception. As you say jeza, France has no problem with horse meat. We in Scotland eat venison and dont give it a second thought!Peru its guinea pig! Each country is different! It's the fact that you are not told what you are eating where the problem lies!

[ethandron]

And the fact that potentially any old nag with all kinds of things wrong with it may have ended up in the food we buy. As far as I'm aware, its not been bred for human consumption has it? Whereas the horsemeat sold in France and Belgium etc. has. I think.

[kloofnek]

Horse meat is perfectly safe to eat when comes from a horses bred specially for consumption.
But we do like to KNOW that we are eating it....not having it hidden in burgers etc.