How much of Dobbin would you be prepared to eat unknowingly?

[IR35FanClub]

the foot in mouth cock-up

I'd avoid using those words in the same sentence, given the ambiguity of meat products the last thing we need is people getting their words mixed up too. Either you'll get half of the internet search traffic landing on this page or someone being pedantic telling you that sentence isn't grammatically correct.

Personally in answer to the thread question - if I was really hungry I'd eat a whole horse. 100%. I've had horse steak in France once, very nice, just like beef. Then again, maybe our French hosts might have been lying to us just to impress us as it was beef. LOL. Was cut about 2" thick and about the size of a dinner plate. and reminded me of a Flintstones bronto-steak. Burned on the outside and bloody inside. Mmmmmn.

What I don't want is to be sold something which it isn't. If Findus want to sell me Horse Lasagne - that's fine. Just stick it on the label. What this whole things has made me realise - I'm glad I buy my food raw and make my own stuff. Processed food is just asking for it too much. I can get a brace of pheasant for the same price as a Fray Bentos pie. Hmmmn which would I prefer? Depends on how much ale I've had before I start to cook.

[tractor]

I'm taking this back
Why?

I just found a bit of horse sh1te in it

You have seen the IKEA menu then......

[tractor]

Bought some sausages for the barbie when I was working in Oz a couple of years back.

Label said, "Ingredients: Meat"

A fairly safe catch all that could be put to good use here.

Don't feed the dolls......

[SantaClaus]

Yes you're right about the slight contamination where several species are slaughtered, but this whole practice of asking consumers how much horsemeat they'll tolerate is just obfuscation.I am a tester, but I'm not an idiot. I understand that if a slaughterhouse kills horses, there might be a few cells of equine material in my beef, but that's not what I would complain about. What I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of is being lied to about my food. We've had the BSE and vCJD scandals, engine oil in chicken feed, the foot in mouth cock-up, the salmonella scares, antibiotic resistance problems and still the heavily subsidised mass food industry, along with the expensive taxpayer funded inspection agencies, are unable to get their ******* act together. Given my income I can fortunately choose to buy food from suppliers I trust, but many, many people cannot afford to make that choice and they are being ripped off and lied to.

If you kill some horses, then you kill some cows, then in between you apply some basic professional standards and clean the machinery and equipment using the miracle of clean brushes, cloths and detergents; then I'm happy, but selling bolognaise sauce without telling people it's got a big chunk of horse in it, then asking the public to tell you precisely what concentration of horsemeat contamination should be allowed is the obfuscation and deceit, and it's the practise of criminal scum.

Couldn't agree more. Also, don't get me started on food additives. For instance, there are 3 varieties of brown colouring that are added to everything from gravy to bread and whisky, sometimes misleadingly labelled as "caramel". Some forms of the additive E150 are produced with ammonia and sulphates and potentially carcinogenic. Other forms are perfectly safe. But you wouldn't know because the marketers do their best to hide it from us.

Fortunately the availability of information on the internet means I don't end up mistakenly feeding this crap to my 4 year old in her gravy.

[EternalOptimist]

I'm taking this back
Why?

I just found a bit of horse sh1te in it

[mudskipper]

Bought some sausages for the barbie when I was working in Oz a couple of years back.

Label said, "Ingredients: Meat"

A fairly safe catch all that could be put to good use here.

[vetran]

I've been offered shares in a company called Soylent Green.
Should I be worried?

pretty sure we will soon discover it was contaminated with that as well.

[evilagent]

I've been offered shares in a company called Soylent Green.
Should I be worried?

[Mich the Tester]

If the slaughterhouse kills Cow, pigs & horse the same tables & knives are used. Yes you wash them but there will be traces hence the 1% limit.

The problem is not that there is slight cross contamination, there was wholesale corruption of the food chain. We have no idea what is in it.

Most religions give absolution for consumption that happens without intent.

Yes you're right about the slight contamination where several species are slaughtered, but this whole practice of asking consumers how much horsemeat they'll tolerate is just obfuscation.I am a tester, but I'm not an idiot. I understand that if a slaughterhouse kills horses, there might be a few cells of equine material in my beef, but that's not what I would complain about. What I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of is being lied to about my food. We've had the BSE and vCJD scandals, engine oil in chicken feed, the foot in mouth cock-up, the salmonella scares, antibiotic resistance problems and still the heavily subsidised mass food industry, along with the expensive taxpayer funded inspection agencies, are unable to get their ******* act together. Given my income I can fortunately choose to buy food from suppliers I trust, but many, many people cannot afford to make that choice and they are being ripped off and lied to.

If you kill some horses, then you kill some cows, then in between you apply some basic professional standards and clean the machinery and equipment using the miracle of clean brushes, cloths and detergents; then I'm happy, but selling bolognaise sauce without telling people it's got a big chunk of horse in it, then asking the public to tell you precisely what concentration of horsemeat contamination should be allowed is the obfuscation and deceit, and it's the practise of criminal scum.

[vetran]

If the slaughterhouse kills Cow, pigs & horse the same tables & knives are used. Yes you wash them but there will be traces hence the 1% limit.

The problem is not that there is slight cross contamination, there was wholesale corruption of the food chain. We have no idea what is in it.

Most religions give absolution for consumption that happens without intent.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Well?

A foot, or a head, or maybe a tail?

Food-watchdog-to-ask-shoppers-how-much-horse-is-acceptable.html

1. Horse if I know it's horse and fit for human consumption: no problem.
2. Horse if I don't know it's horse, but it is fit for human consumption: OK
3. Horse if I don't know it's horse, so it is not supposed to be there, and was put there illicitly, probably with the aim of saving money, so is probably not fit for human consumption: Definitely not.

Trouble is, I don't see secret horsemeat ever being in case 2, it's almost certain to be case 3.


Or to put it another way, dodgy horsemeat, no way; but dodgy cow meat neither. It's not the species but the provenance that worries me.

[formant]

If we can have laws protecting religious people against unwittingly eating pork or beef, how is it so difficult to protect all of us against unwittingly eating horse?

*nods*

...or laws protecting people with allergies from unwittingly consuming gluten, peanuts, etc.

I'm a fan of the 'what it says on the tin' model.

That said, I chanced it on Monday and ordered 'Beef Bolognese' from the hospital menu.
Just cause...

[SupremeSpod]

Well?

A foot, or a head, or maybe a tail?

Food-watchdog-to-ask-shoppers-how-much-horse-is-acceptable.html

How can you "be prepared to eat unknowingly"?

[Mich the Tester]

I have a simple solution to this, but maybe I'm just a simpleton. My big idea is this;

- if it says 'beef' on the package then the only meat in it should be beef
- if it's got horse in it, then it should say horse on the package
- if it's horse AND beef in it, then it should say horse and beef on the package

Likewise for foods containing pork, chicken, fish, albatross, goat or any other animal.

If we can have laws protecting religious people against unwittingly eating pork or beef, how is it so difficult to protect all of us against unwittingly eating horse?

[ctdctd]

Well?

A foot, or a head, or maybe a tail?

Food-watchdog-to-ask-shoppers-how-much-horse-is-acceptable.html