Reply to: Horsemeat - now they are blaming the eu

[The Spartan]

Yep it's quite common here in Switzerland, quite tasty too but then I knew what I was eating and secondly judging by how anal they are here I'm sure it came from a reputable source

[barrydidit]

I'm gonna order some of this stuff.

Seems they're enjoying a boom in sales at the moment - further unintended consequences.

Other than Andy W's mum, has anyone knowingly had horse?

[moggy]

The FSA tests when they actually do them, which they don't as much as they should due to the decrease in the number of inspectors, take 3 weeks for the results to come back so by that time the horse is in the food chain. (Supposedly in mainland Europe.)

Meat Inspectors and Environmental Health Officers are actually taught to know the difference between rat, dog, cat, horse etc carcasses however they have no way of knowing what a particular minced meat is without tests.

BTW they are saying some of the "horse" may actually be donkey. I have no problem eating the majority of animals but I would like to know if I'm eating horse, donkey.

agreed, I have no problem with eating different sorts of meat either. If they can lie about what sort of meat it is, then I am concerned what other corners/standards they might have cut with the meat.

[darmstadt]

It s quite interesting that this has come at a time where the government has cut back the FSA and then they want to introduce this:

Ministers are seeking UK exemption from proposed new EU rules which would require the declaration of the amount of meat in loose fresh meat products. The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) also wants to allow minced meat sold in the UK to have a higher fat and collagen content than permitted in other EU states.

[SueEllen]

I knew that you could not sell horse flesh to humans if the animal had been put down with drugs but having read about Bute (Phenylbutazone) I would presume that each animal that is to be slaughtered for human consumption woul dneed some kind of certificate to prove that his drug had never been administered (which I doubt.)

The FSA tests when they actually do them, which they don't as much as they should due to the decrease in the number of inspectors, take 3 weeks for the results to come back so by that time the horse is in the food chain. (Supposedly in mainland Europe.)

Meat Inspectors and Environmental Health Officers are actually taught to know the difference between rat, dog, cat, horse etc carcasses however they have no way of knowing what a particular minced meat is without tests.

BTW they are saying some of the "horse" may actually be donkey. I have no problem eating the majority of animals but I would like to know if I'm eating horse, donkey.

[darmstadt]

Its because horses can be injected with a particular drug whose name I forget (Bute?) that can now get in the food chain

I knew that you could not sell horse flesh to humans if the animal had been put down with drugs but having read about Bute (Phenylbutazone) I would presume that each animal that is to be slaughtered for human consumption woul dneed some kind of certificate to prove that his drug had never been administered (which I doubt.)

The thing is, most animals are injected with something during their life which will eventually find itself into the food chain, in particular are the recent reports where they are injected with antibiotics which are passed on to us and when we do get an illness which these antibiotics are meant to combat, they can't as we have built up a reisitance to them and they no longer work in our bodies (a bit of a simplification there)

Antimicrobials are valuable therapeutics whose efficacy is seriously compromised by the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The provision of antibiotics to food animals encompasses a wide variety of nontherapeutic purposes that include growth promotion. The concern over resistance emergence and spread to people by nontherapeutic use of antimicrobials has led to conflicted practices and opinions. Considerable evidence supported the removal of nontherapeutic antimicrobials (NTAs) in Europe, based on the “precautionary principle.” Still, concrete scientific evidence of the favorable versus unfavorable consequences of NTAs is not clear to all stakeholders. Substantial data show elevated antibiotic resistance in bacteria associated with animals fed NTAs and their food products. This resistance spreads to other animals and humans—directly by contact and indirectly via the food chain, water, air, and manured and sludge-fertilized soils. Modern genetic techniques are making advances in deciphering the ecological impact of NTAs, but modeling efforts are thwarted by deficits in key knowledge of microbial and antibiotic loads at each stage of the transmission chain. Still, the substantial and expanding volume of evidence reporting animal-to-human spread of resistant bacteria, including that arising from use of NTAs, supports eliminating NTA use in order to reduce the growing environmental load of resistance genes.

[darmstadt]

The page Pferdemetzgerei Beerwart Produkte

includes;

Menschliche Produkte

Products for humans although it was down in 'Schwabenland' so it wouldn't surprise me if the odd (and I mean odd) person became a Schnitzel!

Tierische Produkte

Products for animals (the clue: Produkte aus Pferdefleisch für unsere Vierbeiner ohne Zusatzstoffe)

[Mich the Tester]

Or Waiblingen, at least you know what you're getting

The page Pferdemetzgerei Beerwart Produkte

includes;

Menschliche Produkte

Tierische Produkte

[darmstadt]

You need to move to London for good butchers shops

Or Waiblingen, at least you know what you're getting

[b0redom]

Yep, but if your eyes wibble-wobble about like she might look less unattractive than she is.

MTT in 'I woudn't' shocker!

[sasguru]

Seriously, my local butcher is the one place I wouldn't trust. Smells absolutely rank, doesn't look clean, etc. Found that with many smaller British butcher's shops. :-/
.

You need to move to London for good butchers shops

[Doggy Styles]

I can't see what all the fuss is about. People have been eating it happily for ages with no (apparent) side effects so I would think that the only charges that could be brought would be false advertising.

Is that the European view?

Perhaps people are just getting a bit pissed off with being lied to about what's in their food.

This.

It's not just a case of mis-advertising. Undeclared ingredients can do untold damage, which is why we should come down like a ton of bricks on whoever is responsible.

[Mich the Tester]

Its because horses can be injected with a particular drug whose name I forget (Bute?) that can now get in the food chain

Perhaps people are just getting a bit pissed off with being lied to about what's in their food.

I'm not too scared of horsemeat and have occasionally eaten it myself, but if it says 'beef' on the package I should be able to assume that it's got beef in it, and not horse, chicken or albatross. Happily I trust our local butcher implicitly that he provides beef from top notch grass fed pedigree herds, but not everyone can afford top quality meat.

[sasguru]

I can't see what all the fuss is about. People have been eating it happily for ages with no (apparent) side effects so I would think that the only charges that could be brought would be false advertising.

Its because horses can be injected with a particular drug whose name I forget (Bute?) that can now get in the food chain

[Mich the Tester]

I can't see what all the fuss is about. People have been eating it happily for ages with no (apparent) side effects so I would think that the only charges that could be brought would be false advertising.

I think it's a more sensitive issue in England where a lot of people have genuine affection for horses. And dogging, or is 'Horse and Hound' about something else?