Horse Meat

Lrdoflamancha
Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am trying to understand the big deal in Europe about horse meat. Yes I know the product said beef. So false advertising yes. But this scandal is being played out in the U.S. like horse meat is poisonous. It is not and it is good tasting.

Replies

  • MrsHelenC87
    MrsHelenC87 Posts: 11 Member
    The meat doesn't bother me, the false advertising is annoying, the main concern is the origin of the meat and what hormones were pumped into the horses when they were alive i think is the main concern, unless i'm not catching the drift! :)
  • gracielynn1011
    gracielynn1011 Posts: 726 Member
    Not a big deal to me. I understand their concern though with the false advertising. In reality if they would lie about this, what else are they lying about? But the horse meat, yeah, I'd eat it.
  • Sandylovesm
    Sandylovesm Posts: 242 Member
    yes i think the most important thing is that they found something banished from the human food chain in this meat. It could be dangerous for human, maybe develop diseases. To me that's why it's such a scandal.
  • dillydally123
    dillydally123 Posts: 139 Member
    I live in Ireland. I don't eat a whole load of highly processed meats anyway but the whole thing has really freaked me out.

    Not that its horse, doesn't bother me, i'm a carnivore, i'd eat a horse as quick as a cow or an ostrich or whatever.

    What the big deal is (for me anyway) is that it has taken a month for them to find the source of the meat. I (stupidly) thought we had good traceability on all our food and that if there was a problem with something you could just go to the paper trail and find out immediately where it came from. I also thought a burger that said 100percent irish beef was well, Irish, if not beef.

    It really gets my goat. We have so many ridiculous and vigorously enforced health and safety rules here. I've worked in excellent restaurants which have come under fire for serving their own organically grown vegetables because they don't have a separate building for processing them (ie. washing off the mud) before bringing them to the kitchen and at the same time it takes a month to track down meat in food for sale? If they don't know where it came from they can't make any guarantees about the quality of life/death of the animal, its feed etc etc.

    Also the mafia thing makes it all quite headline worthy.
  • Arkhos
    Arkhos Posts: 290 Member
    I would guess it is because the manufacturing company wasn't supposed to be using horse meat in the food. So where did the horse meat come from? Do they just throw in whatever is sitting around? Did someone think a horse was a cow?

    My other guess would be that most Americans don't like the idea of eating a horse. BTW, horse slaughter was recently re-legalized in the U.S. by congress in November 2011.
  • FitGuyWillDoIt
    FitGuyWillDoIt Posts: 111 Member
    The meat doesn't bother me, the false advertising is annoying, the main concern is the origin of the meat and what hormones were pumped into the horses when they were alive i think is the main concern, unless i'm not catching the drift! :)
    Cows, pigs and chickens are also pumped with hormones to get the right "marbling" of the meat, i.e. the fat / muscle mix, make the animals grow faster to increase production of both milk and meat and therefore make more money. It's a business like any other and the animals are assets just like machines. If they're not producing, money is not being made.

    If the meat is mixed together and made into patties or sauce added, people can't tell the difference. I lost track of the original story but I think it was detected in prepared dinners like lasagne. It was detected via laboratory testing not by human taste buds. That's my understanding anyway.
  • sharonKay65
    sharonKay65 Posts: 93 Member
    Maybe it's just me, but honestly I have never met anyone in my entire life that has eaten horse meat. Nor have I ever known anyone that own horses or raises them for the meat like they would Cows, pigs, chickens etc....
    Perhaps in other countries and cultures it's not that big of a deal, however in the United States this seems a bit out of the norm.
    When I heard that on the news, I thought to myself "yuk, that doesn't even sound appealing" I have also never caught on to the idea of eating Buffalo or Ostrich, both of which I have heard are very good. I guess it's all what we are accustomed to.
  • dillydally123
    dillydally123 Posts: 139 Member
    The meat doesn't bother me, the false advertising is annoying, the main concern is the origin of the meat and what hormones were pumped into the horses when they were alive i think is the main concern, unless i'm not catching the drift! :)
    Cows, pigs and chickens are also pumped with hormones to get the right "marbling" of the meat, i.e. the fat / muscle mix, make the animals grow faster to increase production of both milk and meat and therefore make more money. It's a business like any other and the animals are assets just like machines. If they're not producing, money is not being made.

    If the meat is mixed together and made into patties or sauce added, people can't tell the difference. I lost track of the original story but I think it was detected in prepared dinners like lasagne. It was detected via laboratory testing not by human taste buds. That's my understanding anyway.

    yup detected in lab tests. some products just had trace dna other's were 100 per cent horsemeat
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    Maybe it's just me, but honestly I have never met anyone in my entire life that has eaten horse meat. Nor have I ever known anyone that own horses or raises them for the meat like they would Cows, pigs, chickens etc....
    Perhaps in other countries and cultures it's not that big of a deal, however in the United States this seems a bit out of the norm.
    When I heard that on the news, I thought to myself "yuk, that doesn't even sound appealing" I have also never caught on to the idea of eating Buffalo or Ostrich, both of which I have heard are very good. I guess it's all what we are accustomed to.

    I have owned 2 pet horses and have been a professional in the horse industry for many years as a groom and riding instructor. I have eaten horse meat. I can think of lots of other meats I'd rather eat, but I don't see anything wrong with eating horses as long as that is what they have been prepared for. I do have a problem with unwanted "pet" horses coming into the food chain because they have often been loaded up with medications that are not appropriate for human consumption.
  • Hbazzell
    Hbazzell Posts: 899 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.
  • skylark94
    skylark94 Posts: 2,036 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    So why even come into this thread? I don't go into vegan or vegetarian threads to post snarky comments.
  • dillydally123
    dillydally123 Posts: 139 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    alot of cheese is also murder as the male young are often slaughtered as they are not needed.
  • VeganCoco
    VeganCoco Posts: 104 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    alot of cheese is also murder as the male young are often slaughtered as they are not needed.

    Sounds like we reached the conclusion that vegan is the way forward!
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    I don't have any issues regarding eating horse meat, and I would eat horse meat that is sold to me as horse meat from a reputable source. The problem I have are as follows:

    a) what was listed in the ingredients was not the same as what was in the actual food. If food preparation and hygiene standards are so lax that beef turns out to be horse, then what else was in it that shouldn't have been? Do they even bother to follow other regulations, like basic hygiene?

    b) there's a certain medical treatment for horses which if they are given it, is supposed to eliminate them from the human food chain, meaning that those horses are marked as unfit for human consumption. There are quite serious health risks to humans from this, hence this rule, which as far as I know is a law in the UK, not merely a rule. If horses of unknown origin are found in products that are not even supposed to contain horse in the first place, then how is anyone supposed to if the horses in question were fit for human consumption or not?
  • dillydally123
    dillydally123 Posts: 139 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    alot of cheese is also murder as the male young are often slaughtered as they are not needed.

    Sounds like we reached the conclusion that vegan is the way forward!

    only if you have a problem with murdering animals, which i don't.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    alot of cheese is also murder as the male young are often slaughtered as they are not needed.

    Sounds like we reached the conclusion that vegan is the way forward!

    No. I think hunting my own meat or farming it myself is the way forward.
  • theCarlton
    theCarlton Posts: 1,344 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.
    I don't think you should answer either.
  • mjsasha
    mjsasha Posts: 7 Member
    well with all the meat that is out there i dont understand why we have to eat every creature on 2 or 4 legs horses are for working and transportation. I guess we should try eating our cars...............anyone for some salt? its just rediculous leave the horses alone.
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    b) there's a certain medical treatment for horses which if they are given it, is supposed to eliminate them from the human food chain, meaning that those horses are marked as unfit for human consumption. There are quite serious health risks to humans from this, hence this rule, which as far as I know is a law in the UK, not merely a rule. If horses of unknown origin are found in products that are not even supposed to contain horse in the first place, then how is anyone supposed to if the horses in question were fit for human consumption or not?

    this. there is a difference between chemicals and hormones given to animals intended for human consumption, and those that may actually make a meat unsafe to eat. as many people have said, i don't really think the issue was that it was *horse* specifically, but that it was an unspecified meat of unknown origin with a really shady background.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    well with all the meat that is out there i dont understand why we have to eat every creature on 2 or 4 legs horses are for working and transportation. I guess we should try eating our cars...............anyone for some salt? its just rediculous leave the horses alone.

    Next you'll be saying that it isn't okay to eat dogs. Sheesh.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    It is a problem because:

    a) Food is being mislabelled and we do not know what we are eating (although in my view this just emphasises the need to prepare fresh meals at home and trying to avoid processed foods).

    b) The horse meat used was 'not fit for human consumption', in some cases because they were former race horses that had been given hormones for race performance (which is clearly different to hormones used in cattle raised for food). The horses were being illegally brought into the human food chain. Horses (in the UK at least) have to carry a passport detailing any drugs/treatments they have had. The horses involved in the scandal had been given false identites and passports.

    Of course this is completely different to horse meat that has been reared for human consumption and sold as such, which I'm sure most people have no problem with other than personal preference.
  • milkyskinn
    milkyskinn Posts: 126 Member
    I feel like they are giving off the wrong vibe with all this fuss about it (making it come off as if it is poisonous!) and if it were because of this reason, they need to get their priorities straight and make a fuss about all those magical questionable fake additives in our food that were put in there without us really knowing what damage it can do!

    With that being said, I do think it is wrong to sell a product as something it isn't and making money off lying to your consumers, because they've sold the meat for higher pricing than they should, and they sold a product without informing the consumers about it.
    I don't feel weird/bad about eating horse meat, as horse sausage is actually a local specialty here, but I can understand for people with certain religions where they aren't supposed to consume horse or simply because that is an animal you don't want to consume for your own personal reasons that it is incredibly off putting and scary to have things forced into your diet when it goes against your beliefs.

    In the end, the food industry always does what it pleases.
  • MiloBloom83
    MiloBloom83 Posts: 2,724 Member
    I'm a little curious to try horse now. I've never(knowingly) consumed it. Might be delicious for all i know. Lots of different cultures eat things we don't typically consider to be "food". I like to keep an open mind. But i won't eat brains no matter what. I'm not a zombie.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    In the end, the food industry always does what it pleases.

    Pressure put upon suppliers from large chain stores to reduce costs and the general public looking for the cheapest prices dictates that corners will be cut. Go to a butcher for meat, that's what they do, and most do it well and are genuinely caring of their customers........you may pay more, but generally getting a superior product with a quantified delivery system that again generally is pretty transparent right back to the farm and it's practices.
  • kingofcrunk
    kingofcrunk Posts: 372 Member
    If you don't understand what all the fuss is about then please read this article from the World Horse Welfare website about the slaughter of horses in Europe.

    http://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/information/latest-news?view=show&content_id=5403

    If you agree then please sign the petition to end this inhumane practice.

    I would never eat horse meat slaughtered in Europe because I know how it has been killed. Therefore it is wholly unacceptable that some of it had the possibility of finding its way into my diet.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    only if you have a problem with murdering animals, which i don't.

    :drinker:
  • MrsHelenC87
    MrsHelenC87 Posts: 11 Member
    The meat doesn't bother me, the false advertising is annoying, the main concern is the origin of the meat and what hormones were pumped into the horses when they were alive i think is the main concern, unless i'm not catching the drift! :)
    Cows, pigs and chickens are also pumped with hormones to get the right "marbling" of the meat, i.e. the fat / muscle mix, make the animals grow faster to increase production of both milk and meat and therefore make more money. It's a business like any other and the animals are assets just like machines. If they're not producing, money is not being made.

    If the meat is mixed together and made into patties or sauce added, people can't tell the difference. I lost track of the original story but I think it was detected in prepared dinners like lasagne. It was detected via laboratory testing not by human taste buds. That's my understanding anyway.

    I know there's a lot of hidden nasties in a lot of products, my point was if the ingredient was secret then who knows what state the horses were in!
  • GoldspursX3
    GoldspursX3 Posts: 516 Member
    Well, I think all meat is murder so I dont think I should answer.

    Yeah....no one cares.

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