'Unspecified' animal DNA found in 20% of samples tested in a study by the Food Standards Agency

[LaContessaDiPlump]

This is more than a little grim.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45371852

They tested for cow, pig, sheep, goat, horse, chicken and turkey DNA, so the unspecified animal(s) are different. This suggests that a test for cat, dog, pigeon, rat or mouse DNA may have been enlightening

I love that when I clicked on this thread, I get banner ads for a meat supplier. With a lovely picture of some steak tartare.

I like to think it's parasites or bacteria. 😈

Ignore the bacteria part. Clearly not "animal".

Shame on you Lweji

Btw, you forgot to include human in your list of contaminants.

That is grim as fuck

And bugs. Or fish.

Not unreasonable when you think about it but 1 per cent is a lot

I agree sounds deliberate

I wonder if they find any in processed 'vegetarian' food too?

You're quite right Lweji - my apologies.

I should clarify - I respect your scientific credentials and my tongue was firmly in cheek with the comment above! I apologise if I've offended - I didn't mean to at all.

I was wondering about contaminants in veggie food as well. I don't eat animal products but the issue here is with the industrial production of food I think. Scale things up and it's so easy for shit (literal and figurative) to creep in....

I saw a list of accidental contaminants of supposedly animal-free food once - that was an eye-opener. I have unintentionally eaten a LOT of insects (plus other things).

What? Of course you were.
I'm just going through the possible list.

The testing targeted businesses where there were suspicions of "compliance issues."

Just reading the PigWorld website as I do on a Wednesday morning!

Lweji I think that fish are probably the most palatable (in theory anyway) on your list of other options. Still not great though!

Can you be allergic to meat? Or to different kinds of animal meat? I don't mean crustaceans, I know they are allergy magnets. Trying to work out if this contamination actually harms anyone.

Ooh - could be rabbits, hamsters, squirrels. Seagulls?

Rabbit should be fine (love it), but I'd guess it would be too rare and expensive to use as contaminant.

Perhaps the butcher is now missing a finger or two.

I don't mind insects, I eat a lot of those!

I wonder if they find any in processed 'vegetarian' food too?

Some, apparently www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44421642

Yes, that's the interesting part Lweji - the unspecified animal is probably cheaper to produce than the ones tested for, but isn't already in widespread consumption (or surely they'd have tested for it). That narrows it down, to my mind.

There must be some bloody clumsy butchers round your way to contaminate this widely Koala

I read the article, but I've been vegetarian for over 40 years and don't eat processed food so couldn't really get concerned. Unless it's an issue with animal welfare, of course.

I don't mind insects, I eat a lot of those

Less so if the meat had fly larvae, though.

A few technical aspects also come to mind, but I'd trust the FSA to have taken those into account.

Also, I hope it doesn't include bush meat from some countries. It could carry some nasty stuff. Or it could include endangered/protected species.

Yes- you can definitely be allergic to horse meat, don't know about any others.

I wondered about bush meat, you know.... after all there's no way to know how far these products have travelled, is there. I mean they may say local, but that could be complete bollocks (or it could just be 51% local and then bulked out with whatever).

Sigh. Industrial food production is too prone to this sort of issue.