Horsemeat

Or maybe it was absent labelling, IYSWIM.

I take it you mean the labelling was wrong, absent?

Yes I agree fully absent

For the record, I don't think any of these burgers was labelled halal or kosher, so the presence of pork is unlikely to have disturbed Moslems or Jews. However, the fact still remains that the labelling was inaccurate and it doesn't matter whether the presence of something other than beef was 1% or 99%, it was still wrong.

Wouldn't it be tough at that stage?

When my Mum was un well my Dad used to pay top dollar to get her some horse meat.. I dont think its right to kill a beautiful horse just for meat, but if the horse is old and dieing then I feel ok with it..

Very true Bags and the simple truth seems to be that we can't trust food labelling. The major supermarkets have fallen over themselves to remove meat products from their shelves 'as a precautionary measure'. More likely because they have no idea of what's in their food and are frightened to death of being caught out again.

We ALL have a right to know what we're eating regardless of any food rules we may have. That's a separate issue from it being wrong to break a 'rule' unknowingly.

Feeling one has done something wrong doesn't mean one actually has, though obviously it does feel like that! The point is that if something is not intrinsically wrong, then it's not wrong, whoever does it.

guilt complexes caused by early indoctrination, anyone?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Facebook is full of funny jokes!

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.

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

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)

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]

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

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

"My Lidl Pony". Good one.

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.