Horsemeat

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.

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

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

Or the galloping 'abdabs!

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.

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.

Trade descriptions issue - yes!

Eating horsemeat = no worse than eating any other meat.

I'm with you Nellimoser!

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.

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!!"

haha! j07

I used to live close to New Malden in Surrey where the largest Korean community outside Korea live and the many Korean restaurants in the area always had one untranslated item on the menu. If you asked what it was they always said, 'English people won't like that'! I never took to Korean food really..Korean children used to bring in gifts of food on Korea's National Appreciate your Teacher day... I tried it every time but it was not something I ever looked forward to having more of.

"My Lidl Pony". Good one.

Make your own beef / cheval/pork/lamb burgers takes minutes and you know who sneezed over it. At least it's your children's germs

Did you know that hamburgers is an anagram of Shergar bum?

I was definitely not suggesting anyone had been out rounding up stray Irish ponies and turning them into burgers. I was just going
[little halo emoticon]

On the other hand Jess the Irish, like us are probably exporting a lot of these abandoned horses for slaughter. Now that, in my view, is where we as a nation are very hypocritical. (Are there degrees of hypocrisy? Must check in pedants' corner)

Wouldn't want them as my stable diet though merlot .

Part of the problem – and it is a problem if food is being sold under false pretences – is that no one is testing for horse DNA or, indeed, for pork in beef products etc. Food is tested for safety but not necessarily for authenticity – different agencies are now responsible since the coalition government came to power.

I suspect that our general cultural rejection of horsemeat dates right back to the days of the Norsemen. We accept that it is illogical to refuse horsemeat when we eat beef, pork and lamb, but we see horses in a different, nobler light from cattle, pigs and sheep.

Facebook is full of funny jokes!

There are times when I'm thankful to be a vegetarian.

It makes me realise that we have no idea what is in any of the food we eat, unless we grow it ourselves and cook everything from very basic ingredients.

The idea of horse meat doesn't worry me in the slightest, especially as I don't buy cheap burgers any way! I find the fact that there was pork in some of them more of an issue for certain religious groups. I feel they would be very disturbed by this and am surprised more has not been made of it.

If a person whose religion forbids them to eat pork (or whatever) but they eat some unknowingly, there isn't a problem. They haven't actually done anything wrong.

They haven't done anything wrong if they do it knowingly either, actually, though I know some people won't agree with that.

Bags I'm not sure you're right in that I think some people inadvertently eating a forbidden food would still feel that they had done something wrong.

I'm with you on the absurdity of forbidden foods in the first place, though.

Anyone who objects to eating a certain food, for whatever reasons, and however irrational it may appear to anyone else, has a right to know whether they are eating that food. I don't think religious objections are any more significant than any others.