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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to find myself shouting IT'S NOT ABOUT THE HORSE MEAT

170 replies

ICBINEG · 08/02/2013 12:22

It's about companies not having the faintest idea what is in the food they sell!

Drugs, contaminants, carcinogens, allergens etc.

If you don't even know it is horse not beef then how can I trust it doesn't contain milk and hence will not kill my DNephew if I happen to feed it to him?

The same goes for toys. If you don't know who actually made the parts and from what then how do you know it isn't smothered in lead/anything else that is extremely harmful to children?

I predict a future filled with product and toy recalls followed by lawsuits until retailers wake up to the fact that we WILL blame them when a burger/toy they sold us harms the health of our children.

OP posts:
TheMightyLois · 08/02/2013 13:07

"Sainsbury's re-named theirs Giraffe Bread, apparently because a little girl wrote in saying the pattern on it looked more like a giraffe than a tiger. I suspect a smokescreen."

Wasn't that letter just an advertising thing by Sainsbury's?

niceguy2 · 08/02/2013 13:08

Couldn't agree more OP. I actually couldn't care less about the fact there is horsemeat being sold. As long as it's labelled and people can make their own minds up.

But to sell a BEEF lasagne and for it to have 100% horsemeat in it is frankly ridiculous.

SPBInDisguise · 08/02/2013 13:10

Yep. I have a Tesco macaroni cheese in the freezer. I wonder what nasties that contains.

TwelveLeggedWalk · 08/02/2013 13:11

Thank you Santa, i've just been educating myself on Wikipedia about it!

FairyJen · 08/02/2013 13:13

Extremely well said op I agree 100%!

neriberi · 08/02/2013 13:14

What I don't understand is why so much of meat comes from Europe when we have farmers over here on the brink of going out business.

E320 · 08/02/2013 13:15

Actually, it is about stupid, " entitled" consumers expecting " someone" to take responsibility for everything in their lives.
Shop at your local butcher, baker, fishmonger or green grocer. Stop lining the pockets of the processed food industry!

ExitPursuedByABear · 08/02/2013 13:16

Cos it is cheap, cos it is horse meat, and the rest of Europe does not have the animal welfare standards that we supposedly have in this country.

moisturiser · 08/02/2013 13:16

Totally agree OP

But for me there is also the aspect of if there's a type of meat in the product they didn't know was there, chances are that meat was slaughtered in awful, horrible conditions. It's probably naive of me to think that all Uk meat, say, is ethically slaughtered, but I would bet most conditions are a hell of a lot better than they are in the countries were the horse meat came from. I abhor the fact that animals are being killed in dreadful conditions.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 08/02/2013 13:17

Maryz I was just thinking that the DNA angle has made it very easy to check meat...but not so much what the non-biological components might be. I guess you can check the actual source of flours, oils (except mineral?) although maybe not.

OP posts:
SPBInDisguise · 08/02/2013 13:17

I don't think its stupid for the food that is on sale in our shops to be fit for human consumption (not saying this wasnt btw) and tat the label should vaguely reflect what it is. I know now that its naive, but I do not agree it is stupid.

AppleOgies · 08/02/2013 13:17

YANBU. I avoid processed foods if possible. If I cook it myself then I know (mostly) what goes into it. How the food manufacturers cannot know what is in their products is highly worrying. Is there no quality control at all?

SPBInDisguise · 08/02/2013 13:18

Sorry, stupid to expect the food

Original poster
ICBINEG · 08/02/2013 13:19

E230 not sure if it is massively entitled to want accurate product information?

If I go to my butcher, will he be able to guarantee no contamination with milk protein? It isn't something that the local farmer is necessarily set up to eliminate?

OP posts:
countrykitten · 08/02/2013 13:20

Woo, you say that at times like these you wish you were a veggie....what's stopping you? It's easy.

WillSantaComeAgain · 08/02/2013 13:20

The milk from Poland one is a really good example (because I know exactly which cheesemaker does it and the local farmers). Cheesemaker in the middle of prime dairy country. I shit you not, you cannot move for beautiful holstein cows for a good say, five mile radius around this farm. They buy their milk from Poland because it is cheaper. The cheese can be sold as UK origin (they even name the farm it comes from). No suggestion that the milk got shipped over a thousand miles

Original poster
ICBINEG · 08/02/2013 13:20

I am waiting for human DNA to turn up....

OP posts:
GrumpyOldHorsewoman · 08/02/2013 13:21

If one good thing comes out of this, it will be that people may be less complacent about what they chuck in their trolley. Making your own food from scratch isn't difficult and can cost considerably less than buying it all ready-made. Healthier, less waste, less packaging, just slightly more time-consuming (but not necessarily that much). And actual food tastes better than ready-made anyway.
YANBU - we need to reclaim our values.

socharlottet · 08/02/2013 13:22

'I am waiting for human DNA to turn up.... '
Shhh! You'll give the tories ideas about what to do with these pesky benefit scroungers!

Narked · 08/02/2013 13:23

Shop at your local butcher, baker, fishmonger or green grocer. Stop lining the pockets of the processed food industry!

And the meat you buy from your butcher is somehow guaranteed? Because smaller businesses never adulterate their products to raise their profits. This has gone on for centuries. The difference is that we've been lulled into thinking that we don't need to be cautious anymore.

Original poster
ICBINEG · 08/02/2013 13:23

will that is just abysmal! You should get no brownie points at all for the location of the production line...only for the origin of the raw materials.

The stupidity is that I would pick a genuine home grown cheese for all sorts of reasons and I would pay at least 50% more if not 100%.

When I buy british beef does that just mean killed and packaged in the UK? Or farmed here?

OP posts:
JakeBullet · 08/02/2013 13:23

This is why I cook from scratch..

Scholes34 · 08/02/2013 13:23

Tesco sells frozen omlettes. That says a lot about our inability to cook and the reliance of many on ready meals.

Meat eaters can eat vegetarian food too. It's not exclusive to vegetarians, and it's really very tasty.

countrykitten · 08/02/2013 13:24

Processed food is disgusting and I have no idea why anyone would eat it. This current scandal will soon be forgotten as people clamour for their fish fingers, burgers, sausages and pies again. The thought of it makes me feel ill but other people will put up with serious animal cruelty/ welfare issues and horribly poor quality 'meat' as long as it comes cheap and in a box.

startingfresh · 08/02/2013 13:24

Someone said about it being a wider issue than just the UK earlier, though I'd chip in with this article I was linked to by a friend in Sweden: www.thelocal.se/46076/20130208/#.URT8A6U03Xc

So, yeah. It's not just us. It's a widespread accountability. Does it matter that a few people ate horse? If they knew about it, no. It's that they don't know, and as my STBXH pointed out, horses not bred for consumption are given a vaccine which is harmful to humans if eaten, so you really have to hope these were the right kind of horses. Dobbin from down the field is not a suitable animal to eat.