Horse meat Apocalypse, whats the big deal?

[WelshBloke]

Did anyone report where the horses actually came from?

I honestly had never heard (or had any reason to think) that 'horsemeat farmer' was an actual job. I thought horse consumption was more...incidental.

"Well, that dead horse isn't going to pull the wagon very well anymore...wanna eat it?"

😀 I think your last quote was accurate actually.

I think these are horses that have been sent to the knackers yard because the owners don't want them anymore or they are ex race horses or the like.

I'm pretty sure that they aren't from a specialist horse meat farm.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Did anyone report where the horses actually came from?

I honestly had never heard (or had any reason to think) that 'horsemeat farmer' was an actual job. I thought horse consumption was more...incidental.

"Well, that dead horse isn't going to pull the wagon very well anymore...wanna eat it?"

I lol'd

 

[OverVolt]

I'm kind of expecting horse meat to be a permanent fixture of the food supply now.

80/20 & 80/20 Ya know. Protein/fat & cow/horse.

 

[_Rick_]

The problem is that meat is supposedly well controlled and monitored, with tracking requirements. So if in this market something isn't the way it's supposed to be, then that means someone managed to bypass the control mechanisms that are in place.

Considering the risks of meat consumption, this is not acceptable.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

The horsemeat that came from France had substances in it that were harmful for humans.

And in many cases the problem with horsemeat being in the products is not the meat itself, but that it is not on the packaging. Let's say a loved one has a heavy peanut allergy and eats something that declares there are none in there on the packaging, only for you to find out from the autopsy that it in fact consisted of 20% or more peanuts. Would you be like 'Meh, what's the big deal?', or would you be pretty pissed off at the manufacturer?

Calling back all the stuff is more a gesture to the customers than something that's needed in most cases, but especially with the French meat (which is basically poison) out there they don't want to take any risk. If people end up sick or even die because of eating that meat the company risks a nasty lawsuit.

 

[TheKub]

Well they were selling MEATballs, not BEEFballs. So looks like they are in the clear!

 

[BrightCandle]

Cheap beef burgers have mostly been made out of breadcrumbs for while and now they are removing the beef. I like the packaging to honestly describe what it is that I buy, so if they want to start selling horse burgers (presumably also better described as bread burgers) then that is great. But I do not want horse in my beef, even if it tastes the same, has the same texture and I can't tell the difference. Because its what I thought I bought.

If the authorities don't crack down hard on this and treat it seriously people may loose faith in the sanctity of the food supply and that will not be good for anyone.

 

[skyking]

😀 I think your last quote was accurate actually.

I think these are horses that have been sent to the knackers yard because the owners don't want them anymore or they are ex race horses or the like.

I'm pretty sure that they aren't from a specialist horse meat farm.

there is a farm nearby here that raises belgians for export, among other things.

 

[techs]

Yea, I don't see the big deal either aside from not properly labeling things.
I used to buy horsemeat when I lived in sweden to make sandwiches.

I just opened up my new Core i7 computer and found an Atom processor.
No big deal.

 

[OlafSicky]

It looks like this is all over EU now so someone made someone serious money cheating the system. The scary thing about this is that every country has it's own food safety agencies and they didn't find it. If this was poison or infected meat a lot of people would be screwed right now.

 

[WelshBloke]

I just opened up my new Core i7 computer and found an Atom processor.
No big deal.

An Intel i7 is not really a good analogue of a really cheap and nasty ready meal.

 

[lxskllr]

The scary thing about this is that every country has it's own food safety agencies and they didn't find it. If this was poison or infected meat a lot of people would be screwed right now.

I wouldn't condemn the system just yet. Hopefully they're more diligent about pathogens than they are regarding DNA tests to determine species. This seems kind of obscure to me, and aside from the issues of drugged animals, won't really affect public health. Yea, it sucks that consumers didn't get what they paid for, but in the end,there was no real harm aside from monetary, and money is a triviality.

 

[biostud]

What has happened:
1. Media finds out and goes crazy
2. people, meh
3. Food control finds more evidence of horse meat, also says it's not dangerous, but it's important to label food correctly and not try to cheat consumers
4. All larger companies starts to pull suspected products
5. Media continues to spin it into a huge scandal
6. people....wonder how horse meat tastes?
7. Horse meat sold out at horse butchers
8. Scientists says horse meat is healthy

So actually I think that the situation has been handled very well. The media might have gone a bit crazy, but they need to tell the story. The population is generally pretty relaxed about it and would like to taste horse meat, they just want their food to be correctly labeled.