Horsemeat

I swear that I heard someone on the radio saying that the Food Standards Agency needs to be 'beefed up'.

For me to it is a matter of food description - it would seem that supermarkets have pushed and pushed to get prices down thus forcing untrustworthy meat suppliers to get the cheapest available - in this case horse meat. It is openly sold and eaten on the continent - the choice is up to the consumer there. I am just appalled at the deceit - especially when currently there is so much pressure being brought to bear to improve food labelling. For me the issue is that the product is being sold as BEEF when in fact it is HORSE. a LIE.

It was only a matter of time and to-day my concern's have been verified Lancashire County Council have confirmed horse DNA found in Cottage Pie's being served at schools across the area,have the powers that be tested what is being served in our hospitals and nursing homes at the kitchens who have their meals bought in from outside Company's.?

A new ready made meal in a supermarket using pasta and meatballs is called
'Macaponi'.

The French have been eating horse meat for years; it's usually the first meat that you give to young children because it is tender and a little sweet. I don't think it has done us any harm - unless it is proven that it has Bute in it. However, I worry that (a) so many people are using ready meals instead of cooking proper food and (b) that the ingredients listed are so far from the truth. Hopefully all this will take us back to buying our meat at the butchers and cooking again! Cheaper in the long run too!

I am a lot more worried about contamination from drugs, eg antibiotics, Bute, possibly steroids? Who knows, if not properly sourced and regulated. And what is in tinned meat and products containing 'beef'? If horsemeat was being sold as 'beef' what else is going on?

There's nothing wrong with buying fresh meat from a supermarket if you don't have a local butcher. Make sure you read the label so you know it is British and where it has been produced.

Processed meat has always been 'chancy' - you just don't know what's in it. To be sure of what you are getting the only thing to do is buy fresh meat from a reputable butcher (if there are any left in your local area that haven't been put out of business by supermarkets selling 'processed' meat dishes!!). Then you know what you are getting (mostly). Horsemeat is, as most people know eaten pretty widely in Europe. The issue is that it has been knowingly labelled as beef which is of course, not acceptable. I shall eat more vegetarian food with only one or two [fresh] meat dishes a week.

Bags

feetle, your use of the word unadulterated reminded me of a time when I drove my brother, who was unemployed and depressed at the time, for a day's outing from York to Scarborough. We had a snackeroo in a cafe. Mine was a knickerbocker glory. Before ordering it, I asked the waitresss if it was "real cream" on top. She assured me it was. However when the glory came, I immediately knew it wasn't unadulterated cream because it was too white. It was out of one of those spray cans of cream, and yes, it was 'real' but with the addition of whatever ingredient it is that makes it fluffy and super white and without quite the right cream taste. I spooned it off the top, plonked it on the saucer and said to my brother that I should have asked whether it was unadulterated cream but he said, and he was probably right, that she wouldn't have understood me

The nicest thing about that day was that my brother told me he hadn't laughed so much in ages. I think it was then that I realised just how low he'd been feeling.

The posts above abut keeping and eating poultry suddenly brought back a memory of a favourite toy - the discarded chicken's foot... we boys would chase the girls with one of those, pulling on the tendons to make it 'claw' as we did so... those girls would scream in (delicious) fear... Mind you, the Chinese eat them - the feet, not the girls - as far as I know - but having tried it once, never again. One of the few dishes I have experienced that have nothing whatsoever to recommend them. I suppose I could have chased a waitress with one...

Am I worried? Not for myself, no - for one thing I have enjoyed horse in the past, and for another I don't buy manufactured meals, preferring to cook for myself.

For others, I do worry, because they buy ready-made hamburgers, lasagne, bolognaise ragu and so on, and they have a right to expect that the meat should be wholesome and as described on labelling. When it isn't as advertised, then they are being defrauded.

But a plea - will people please stop talking about meat being 'contaminated' in this matter, unless there is something harmful added, a chemical or a toxin of some kind? I suppose what is meant by our ill-educated journalists is 'adulterated' - a different kettle of sea-horse fish altogether.

Why not? Too many people need to be told over and over again cheapest is often dearest health wise .and the more responsible people like BoomerB pass the message on to heir DCs and their GCs the better. And think how long it took to get the smoking message over.

A welter of posts stating the obvious probably.

Because it's rotten, of course. I don't think you need to be dense either. What's eating you?

Why not Bags?

Don't be rotten, absent

Gosh, I wouldn't have thought of buying fresh meat from the butcher instead of expensive, tasteless frozen ready meals. Thank you so much for the suggestion. Could you also explain to me how to suck eggs?

I bought tickets for the Grand National. My doctor says I should watch what I eat! Just trying to lighten the tone. Come On....!! If you're really worried about what you eat you don't buy rubbish ready prepared, processed food from the Food Industry. Simples!!

If you buy such rubbish quality meat and meat products, then horsemeat is the least of your worries. I have absolutely no problem eating horsemeat and have done so many times in Europe. The problem as Riverwalk says is what other regulations they are flouting. The answer is probably as many as they think they can get away with. Use your butcher!

Why does the BBC keep using the words 'tainted' and 'contaminated' about this issue....implying that there is a health risk....then they say there isn't....is this part of the promotion?

I notice that the BBC has promoted this story, originally called a scandal, into a crisis now.

Yes Deedaa, my main concern too is the welfare of the animals. I don't understand why, in this day and age with efficient refrigerated lorries, there is any need to transport live animals over any distance greater than the nearest slaughter house.

Years ago we kept goats and chickens and ate both. My husband was a butcher at the time and would shoot and butcher the billy goats for us and for several local breeders. There is no market for male goats and most of them would mature into very smelly and aggressive animals if left. We also ate several pigs that we had reared. It was good to know that they had had happy lives and were killed humanely with no stress and no idea what was going to happen.
This is my main worry about the horse meat - I've seen livestock being transported round the continent and would hate to think what some of the horses must have gone through.

My issue is that it has been wrongly labelled, however what has really astonished me is that people would actually but frozen lasagne and bolognese ! ( or jars of ragu sauce. white sauce...)

We buy all our meat from a local butcher, he can tell where it came from, and who slaughtered it, and it is CHEAPER that the pre packaged meat in supermarkets that adds to waste through its inane packaging.

I guess I am lucky to still have a decent butcher , we drive there fortnightly as he's about 14 miles away, and stock up for the fortnight, and also get fruit, eggs etc from the market there

for any Dorset Grans - its Rawles in Bridport - they are brilliant !