Horsemeat Scandal
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Jack~Rouse
Reputable
Nothing wrong with horsemeat, it tastes like any wild meat, a bit stronger in flavour than beef though.
What is wrong is that it is a lot cheaper than beef, so some one has been making a fair bit of cash by using it, and in this country it's not used for human consumption because some of the common medications used for horses hasn't been approved as suitable for consumption by humans, but I'm not sure if that is true of the continent where horsemeat is eaten on a regular basis, especially France.
What is wrong is that it is a lot cheaper than beef, so some one has been making a fair bit of cash by using it, and in this country it's not used for human consumption because some of the common medications used for horses hasn't been approved as suitable for consumption by humans, but I'm not sure if that is true of the continent where horsemeat is eaten on a regular basis, especially France.
I do not agree that horses were treated in this manner.
But, horse meat is quite nice. They are quite clean animals and people loved the burgers etc before they even knew it was horse meat. Once it was known that it wasn't beef, people say the food is disgusting and that they'd never buy it again.
What does that tell you?
But, horse meat is quite nice. They are quite clean animals and people loved the burgers etc before they even knew it was horse meat. Once it was known that it wasn't beef, people say the food is disgusting and that they'd never buy it again.
What does that tell you?
I think what happened is scandalous. Like many other people I understood that the meat we purchased in supermarkets had full traceability and could be traced right back to the farm where the animal came from. Well it turns out that not only could it not be traced back to a particular animal on a particular farm, but it could not be traced to a particular species or a particular country.
Tesco withdrew spaghetti bolognese from Irish supermarkets because it was found to contain horse meat imported from abroad. That spaghetti bolognese product was supposed to contain 100% Irish meat.
I don't have an objection to anyone eating horse meat, but I do think it is disgraceful that a food product is labelled as one thing yet contains something completely different. I feel that the people responsible for selling horse meat as beef should be prosecuted and sent to jail.
It really is quite frightening to think that we really had no idea what we were eating and that the food industry would be involved in such fraud.
Tesco withdrew spaghetti bolognese from Irish supermarkets because it was found to contain horse meat imported from abroad. That spaghetti bolognese product was supposed to contain 100% Irish meat.
I don't have an objection to anyone eating horse meat, but I do think it is disgraceful that a food product is labelled as one thing yet contains something completely different. I feel that the people responsible for selling horse meat as beef should be prosecuted and sent to jail.
It really is quite frightening to think that we really had no idea what we were eating and that the food industry would be involved in such fraud.
Jack~Rouse
Reputable
Fergal said:
There was a C4 program on last year, about what's in our food, after seeing that, we no longer buy meat from supermarkets, preferring to go to a local butcher instead, where you can see the carcass he's cutting your Sunday joint from, we also took on an allotment, you would be surprised to know what your veg goes through before it gets to the shelves.
It is classed a scandal by the public because it shows how little companies check the origins of their products. The public trusts companies to know these thing and be truthful on labels.
Plus there is the risk of horses having had antibiotics in that are bad for humans, that could've ended up in those products. Kinda shows how little people know about their food in general since antibiotics are used regularly in the meat industry.
The other part is obviously Animal Welfare since the horses were in countries known for poor animal welfare (although the UK is no better as many undercover investigations show).
Plus there is the risk of horses having had antibiotics in that are bad for humans, that could've ended up in those products. Kinda shows how little people know about their food in general since antibiotics are used regularly in the meat industry.
The other part is obviously Animal Welfare since the horses were in countries known for poor animal welfare (although the UK is no better as many undercover investigations show).
I don't agree with that. Horses are given drugs and antibiotics that are not allowed in beef. Hence, eating horse meat can have an impact on your health, that beef doesn't. Also horse meat has a much higher iron content than beef, which can also impact on your health. It's not hypocrisy to complain, that you have been buying and consuming a product labelled as 100% beef, only to find out that it was actually a much cheaper meat that could be detrimental to your health.Fen said:
I have mixed feelings on this.
Yes, it should be clearly labelled that we are eating horse and not beef, and that I feel should be rectified. However, it has been proven that the horse meat is not actually poisonous in anyway to humans. I ate it without complaining, as did many people, so why start now? There are many people who eat horse meat, (for example, it is popular in France), so why should we complain?
Yes, it should be clearly labelled that we are eating horse and not beef, and that I feel should be rectified. However, it has been proven that the horse meat is not actually poisonous in anyway to humans. I ate it without complaining, as did many people, so why start now? There are many people who eat horse meat, (for example, it is popular in France), so why should we complain?
Because food is very important to our health and well being. We should be able to trust the labels on the food we are eating. To give an analogy, if I bought a PC believing it had a top quality Intel i7 processor, only to find out later that it had a much slower cheaper processor, I wouldn't be very happy. Isn't it even more important that we can be confident in food labelling?AndroidOS said:
Horses are sometimes given a drug known as bute which is harmful to humans and should never get into the food chain, read more here on the Guardian.
As I said earlier horse meat contains a lot more iron than beef, some people need to be careful as to how much iron they consume, due to a medical condition, more here on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_overload.
Personally I think that anyone found to have fraudulently sold horse meat as beef should spend some time in jail.
juststeven
Madly Diligent
I love a bit of horse meat 🙂 But seriously, you'd have to eat around 100 horse burgers a day to have any medical effect. And if you do you eat that much well I think you have more pressing problems. So there is no health risk realistically.
Do you have a reference for that?juststeven said:
That's not my understanding. Have a look at the quote below from the Guardian article I linked to;
Source.
Plus, people who suffer from too much iron in their blood, will be trying to keep their iron levels to a minimum. They should not be deceived into thinking they are consuming less iron than they actually are.
Fergal said:
As I said before, I agree with you on the point that it should be labelled clearly. I fully agree that we should know what we are eating.
Yes, horses are sometimes given drugs that are harmful to us. However, I seem to recall that a wide range of samples have been taken for testing, and that they returned with the result that they were actually safe for us to eat. It's a slight risk due to the criminal activity involved that it may have got in, but at the moment it seems highly unlikely that it did.
Horses may contain a lot more iron, which yes as you rightly said Fergal, can be harmful, but Horse is considered a delicacy in some countries, so in reality it can't be too bad, not unless you were having a Burger King burger everyday, in which case you would be in trouble anyway.
I'd also like to add that I agree with your last point, what they did was illegal and they should be put in jail.
Fergal said:
Beef, and all red meats for that matter, are high in iron anyway (around 3.7mg per 100g), so I would imagine most people who have problems like this try to stay away from beef anyway. Horse meat has around 3.8mg per 100g.
I think we agree with each other on most points AndroidOS. I've no objection to anyone eating horse meat, as long as they know what they are eating and have not been deceived into thinking they are eating something else.
I had heard that horse meat has over twice the iron content of beef but am not sure what the correct figures are. The Wikipedia link you posted says beef has 1.9mg of iron per 100g. The other link you posted, says it has 3.7mg.AndroidOS said:
Fergal said:
Err, you misconstrued my point or more to the point, ignored the second sentence in my post and just seemed to disagree with me purely for disagreeings sake. People who eat meat should not be bothered by what species they're eating (including homo sapien meat). It's all flesh at the end of the day. And an animal still dies for the momentary sensation of the tongue. I wasn't talking about the labelling issue, but the people who are complaining because it is horse. Obviously horses intended for food chain do not have the drugs in you mention (well, should not have, but reality is often different).
Lastly, most animals who end up on your plate will have some form of antibiotic or hormones in them. There is no pure guarantee it has all exited the system. Especially in the case of farmers giving animals growth hormones to speed up the fattening process.
Oh, and one more thing, beef is unhealthy. Red meat is far worse than white meat as for health aspects. But all meat is unhealthy though. More so today due to all the tampering with breed/genes and additives given via feed, and antibiotics.
Sorry if you understood my post that way, but that was not my intention.Fen said:
Sorry but I don't agree with that. You yourself say;Fen said:
If that's your opinion, isn't someone who eats meat entitled to have a preference for white meat? I eat vegetables and I prefer to eat some vegetables than others, I don't understand why someone would think I shouldn't prefer some meats to others.
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