Horsemeat

Just seen this.

"Never mind horsing around in Tesco! Get yourself down to Asda & try their new Spicy Korean Meatballs... They're the dog's bollocks!!"

Riverwalk I don't think it is true to say that all animals killed by halal slaughter in the UK are pre-stunned; the law is clear that there is no requirement for this.

And Jess from what I have heard both the Irish production company and the one in Yorkshire are blaming the European supplier of the 'filler material' used in the burgers for the contamination, ie. neither is admitting to actually supplying the horsemeat themselves.

Trade descriptions issue - yes!

Eating horsemeat = no worse than eating any other meat.

I'm with you Nellimoser!

The origin of this meat was Irish. It did occur to me that there have been an awful lot of abandoned ponies in Ireland since the economy crashed. People who bought one when times were good just opened the gates and let them go apparently. Result was a lot of wandering horses that were not being looked after.

NO hysteria from me - I was just stating a fact. I don't care how the animals are killed but I would prefer that they suffer as little as possible.

Or the galloping 'abdabs!

I wouldn't mind a horseburger but I'm afraid it might give me the trots!

riverwalk I think under the sale of goods act the buck stops with Tesco.

bags Personally I would feel a little squeamish about eating horsemeat in the same way that I feel squeamish about eating brains.
It doesn't bother me if other people eat horsemeat - from an ethical point if view, there is no difference between different species.
What annoys me is the deceit.
Consumers should be able to feel confident that the information on the packaging, whether it relates to country of origin, rearing practices or anything else, is true.
Perhaps it is rather naive to imagine that it is possible to trust large corporations like Tesco, but I feel that they have breached that trust and that if we have a trades description act which applies to small businesses, it should apply equally to large ones and I hope Tesco are punished appropriately.

The processing company which supplied the 29% horse burger has either very slack quality-control or been acting illegally by mixing in undeclared horsemeat.

They could well be as slack with other regulations e.g. hygiene.

I have no moral objection to eating horse - more concerned with the shenanigans of the food industry.

I wonder who the buck stops with

Tesco are getting rid of their 29% horse burgers. More food waste.

I mean, if it was 29% horse and, say, 60% beef, what then?

jane, is that because you don't want to eat horse meat or because 29% meat is not enough in a meat burger (with which latter sentiment, I agree)?

Er, 29% horsemeat

For me it is a trade descriptions issue.
If I buy burgers or sausages I look very carefully at the percentage meat composition and only buy things that have the highest meat content.
if I picked up some burgers that said 219% horsemeat I wouldn't buy them.
I heard a senior Tesco bod on Radio 4 this morning.
He was trying to make out that Tesco 'trusted' their suppliers and it was the supplier's fault, not Tesco's quality control's fault.
Yeah, right. What about the customers' trust?
I hope they get fined many millions of pounds and I am glad I now have a really good reason never to buy stuff from them again.

A hamburger is made from beef - so what the blood and stomach pills is a "beefburger"?

A hamburger is named after the city of Hamburg. So where the blazes is Beefburg?

I worry about these things...

GreatNan - yes, we tried whale-meat - once! Dreadful - worse than tinned Snoek (remember that?)

I have no objections to horse-meat - it's known for cleanliness and a bit sweet as I recall.

I do object to ritual slaughter of animals that have not been stunned, as cruel and barbaric - like many things associated with belief in the supernatural,

I should have said that in UK abbatoirs they are pre-stunned.

Apparently in New Zealand ALL lamb is halal, because of the importance of its export market I presume.

The animals are still pre-stunned so that fits in with what we meat-eaters would find acceptable, but the halal bit is that a prayer is said. I'm not bothered by the prayer!

There is a lot of hysteria about halal products - anyone who eats meat must know that animal slaughter is a messy business.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/6319003/i-refuse-to-buy-meat-from-supermarkets-until-they-ban-halal-slaughter/

I thought that most supermarket meat was Halal these days, because they don't want the cost of buying from two different sources. Perhaps you could check that out Bags. In France, many supermarkets have a designated Halal counter and freezer.
I have eaten horsemeat in France, and found it just a bit tough. Whale meat, which we had during the war, was horrible.

Pinched off Twitter: "Tesco, for when you could eat a horse" (Fraser Nelson).

Replies: "Neigh chance!" and "I prefer My Lidl Pony"

Chcuckle.

Goes without saying that I think meat burgers are good food. Not all burgers are equal though.

The venison burgers we eat contain some pork as well. Fine with that, and it says so on the packet. Happy to eat horse burgers too. So long as food is farmed compassionately (see CIWF - Compassion in World Farming), and slaughtered humanely (not by some ridiculous religious ritual), I'll eat whatever passes for good food.

I get that point but are they always branded as beef "burgers." or burgers.

Can they brand them as beef burgers if there is just a certain majority percentage of beef and put in other stuff as required? I suspect they may and that only 100% beef would not have anything else added.
As a veggie I don't know these days.

It would not surprise me if some manufacturers did just brand them as as "burgers"! I suspect that a lot of people would probably not notice the difference unless they were on the look out.

I will look on some packets next time I am in the co-op