Horse meat

[EJTH]

It's started..... the iceberg begins to reveal itself. Now they find pork in Waitrose beef meatballs. http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-02-07/findus-horse-meat-lasagne/

Why is it so hard to know what is in the food we eat?

[sabrina79]

hi Maxxi .i just say what i think .i did say everybody need to be a veg .i do have my path .and my reason for to be a veg .after what i said .you can do everything you like .if you read all .i even said .if you are happy im happy for you , so dont just copy and past .what you choose .but copy and past all the message i wrotte .if you think like me ,ok .if you dont agree what i said .for me its ok . my motto is .live and let live ....and i am who i am .your approve is not needed .:)

[polla2256]

sabrina79 Wrote:

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> hi Maxxi .i just say what i think .i did say

> everybody need to be a veg .i do have my path .and

> my reason for to be a veg .after what i said .you

> can do everything you like .if you read all .i

> even said .if you are happy im happy for you , so

> dont just copy and past .what you choose .but copy

> and past all the message i wrotte .if you think

> like me ,ok .if you dont agree what i said .for me

> its ok . my motto is .live and let live ....and i

> am who i am .your approve is not needed .:)

Well done you have just proven that all veggies are nutters (pun intended)

[KidKruger]

No one thinks you are looking for approval.

No one is making comments about you.

They are just saying veggies lecturing at them all the time is a tiresome.

[KidKruger]

EJTH - because it's processed food. That's why it's so hard.

[Burbage]

polla2256 Wrote:

> well now you're just being silly

I don't think Tom's being silly. Irrelevant, perhaps, but not silly.

The point that Tom's missed is that labels say what they want to say, and nobody seems to be checking. We know, at the moment, that certain meat-containing products aren't what they're supposed to be, but food adulteration has just as long and distinguished a place in the annals of herbivory, whether it's sawdust in the flour or carrots in the coffee. If you want to take the gamble that a particular lump of tofu is what you think it is, that soya milk contains more than soybeans, chalk and Pseudomonas extract, or whether a particular sack of lovely mycoprotein came from the right sort of bubbling vat, you're free to take that gamble. But don't pretend it's not a gamble.

The key point about the horseburgery is that Nobody Complained. The only reason it came to light at all was because the FSA bothers to read the papers. There is no routine testing, and it's up to customers to raise a fuss. As customers typically can't test their food, fusses are rare.

There have been scandals before, of course. But when 'olive' oil, 'wild' salmon, 'free range' eggs, 'basmati' rice, 'British' chickens and 'pure' honey turned out to be something else, it was discovered either by accident, or through the pleasingly selfless snitchery of the disgruntled (who surely deserve a monument by now). And some substitutions - apricot kernels for "bitter almonds", for example - have such a long history that they're almost respectable.

In short, vegetarianism is all very fine, but you've no better way of telling what you're eating than anyone else. In the horseburger case it applies to different meats. But it could equally apply to 'non-GM' or 'organic' produce, or any of the other claims made by every food or ingredient on the market. Every we food buy, whether it had a meaningful life or merely vegetated, is now a wager, and there's no way to tell if we've won or lost.

[Only me!]

Whenever there are two products that look the same & one is expensive & one is not ... there is the risk of substitution or forgery.

This rule applies to everything. From clothing, handbags & trainers, through DVDs & now, clearly, into food.

When a whole horse is able to be purchased in Country A, for a pittance, but once butchered now looks similar to beef, that will sell for many hundreds in Country B ..... there is an obvious mismatch in value & an easy profit opportunity for the unscrupulous.

Which it would seem has been being taken.

We have been tolerating & even joking about dodgy or knock off products in branded clothing, for many many years.

Are we really now surprised that the same thing is happening in food.

A month ago we all thought that our food supply & regulation mechanism was in good order & keeping us safe.

This morning on the Radio it was described as dis-functional & hopeless & it didn't get that bad in a month! It's obviously been in a state for ages ... we just didn't know.

There are clever criminals & lax officials ... we seem to be in a place where the two have crossed swords & for various reasons the criminals have won.

I bet any quality butcher with provenance of it's meat & a photo of a cow ... will be very busy over the next few weeks & months.

Unfortunately I predict a sharp rise in prices for this sort of "trustworthy" meat. With corresponding bins full of now worthless ?1.00 ready meals.

[the-e-dealer]

Here we go as soon as a meat issue comes up some meat-eater always starts whining that veggies are getting at them!

maxxi Wrote:

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> The cry of the alwaysbleedinbanginonabahtit veggie

> - "i dont try to make everybody veg... but i have

> to say just one thing." Yes.

> Of course you do.

[maxxi]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> Here we go as soon as a meat issue comes up some

> meat-eater always starts whining that veggies are

> getting at them!

Only when they proselytise - which they invariably do.

[the-e-dealer]

I'm a veggie and want you to continue eating meating maxxi.

[maxxi]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> I'm a veggie and want you to continue eating

> meating maxxi.

Well I'm perverse and suspect reverse psychology wherever I see it so now I shall become an unreconstructed vegan.

[the-e-dealer]

I will sneak some horse into your lentils!

[maxxi]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> I will sneak some horse into your lentils!

Ahah, yes, to improve the taste! I bloody knew it, another closet carnivore^ppi.

Pedants Please Ignore - "Its omnivore actually" - yes, yes we all know that, thankyou

[DulwichDeviant]

DELETED

[Tom Micklewright]

Great to hear from you again Huggy, and KidK, hope you are both well.

The South London Vegan Society certainly is out to expand the veggie empire, especially when the meat and dairy industry is actually working in our favour. We now have groups for ?Brixton Vegans?, ?Dulwich Vegans?, ?Clapham Vegans?, 'Crystal Palace Vegans' ?Lewisham Vegans? 'Rotherhithe Vegans'.

Our next Dulwich meeting is a beer tasting and a talk about beer brewing - hope you can make it as it would be great to meet you both in the flesh!!

See you there.....

Talk about beer brewing:

Dulwich vegans next meeting: ?Beer Tasting and talk on brewing vegan alcohol? by Andy Skeene on Thursday 21 March 2013 @7.30pm -9.30pm, Blue Brick cafe, 14 Fellbrigg Road, East Dulwich, SE22, just off Lordship lane.

Click here to confirm you are coming!!! http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/529196320458282/?context=create

Beer Tasting and talk about vegan alcohol by Andy Skene from www.dominionbrewerycompany.com who runs two breweries Dominion Brewery Company and Pitfield Brewery, certified by The Vegan Society and The Soil Association. He produces about 20 different styles of vegan beer and will be bringing some along to the meeting.

[KidKruger]

Currently I only drink vegan non-alcoholic beer, but thanks for the invite.

[*Bob*]

Tom Micklewright Wrote:

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> Click here to confirm you are coming!!!

> http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/529196320458282/

Invited: 52

Going: 1 - Thomas Micklewright

Sounds great. What time does the party start?

[nimby]

Count me in

[fishbiscuits]

If you're finding it hard to get horse burgers now that they've been withdrawn from all the supermarkets, you could always try making your own.

http://fishfingersarnie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/horse-burgers.html

[wee quinnie]

The most scary thing about this whole horsemeat saga for me is.....it doesn't matter if you are vegan, veggie or omnivore....HOW DO WE TRUST THE FOOD WE BUY? CAN WE TRUST LABELS? :(

[El Pibe]

That's rather the point, if the nation's favourite brands have no idea what's in their products then nor will we.

The second point is when you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it; if you can't actually taste the difference between horse and beef in a product you have to ask yourself should you care.

[RosieH]

Well, yea, if they contain bute...

[El Pibe]

I haven't heard of a huge surge in cases of aplastic anaemia execp in House.

Now if beer turns out to contain the carcasses of coked up squirrels, then I'll start to worry.

[RosieH]

It's the long term accumulation though, innit.

Years from now, they'll be dropping like flies, like flies I tell you, mark my words.

[El Pibe]

Still waiting for that for CJD, Pills ......

I'm with Utopia, no such thing as SARS innit ;)