to be kind of glad they found horse in cheap meat?

[ManyBellyKicks]

I mean I'm not glad they did it, but that its all out now?

And more importantly its gave me a massive kick up the arse because I don't want my kids eating unknown crap. Its not the horse meat thats offensive to me really, more the thought that I was buying 'cheap beef products' and it wasn't beef at all.

Of course I've always known these ready meals and cheap processed stuff isn't the best, I'm not daft, but it was cheap and edible and the kids liked it and it suited my (struggling) pocket. I knew it wouldn't be prime cuts of meat but the realisation that there's stuff not listed on the box is quite disgusting, who knows what the heck is in there.

So in light of this, the last few weeks we have had NO processed meat.

This is quite a turn around in our house.

I'm cooking frech meals with fresh lean beef, lasgane, chillis, bolognases. And instead of things like chicken nuggets or chicken burgers I'm 'splashing out' on chicken breasts and doing my own.

So AIBU to think that this could turn out to be a (slightlyyy) positive thing is it makes people who ate alot of processed, convenience food think about their meals and eat better?

I have never thought that any slaughter of animals is humane - which is why I am a vegan.

However halal slaughter is widely condemned and there are better ways to kill animals if you must eat meat.

Btw - butchers do not kill animals, that is done in slaughterhouses. Butchers shop them up afterwards.

sigh - that would be 'chop'.

Can't type today.

Thank you for clearing up who kills the animals! breathes sigh of relief

My point was about looking round locally. I personally fid the thought of a bolt in the end no less or more gruesome, than slitting the throat where the blood pressure drops till the animal falls unconscious.

slaughter is slaughter. Many stunned animals wake up once hung upside down by one leg as their throats are cut. You eat meat. It gets killed. Thats how it is.
Its also a different topic to the adulteration of food. And I bet it doesnt end with meat either.

No YOU eat meat freetoanyhome. I don't as I have pointed out.

And allthatglitters, if you really think that then you most certainly need to do your research. It's all disgusting but you owe it to the animals who die for your plate to make their end as good as it can be.

The thing is how on earth do you know that the "good quality" meat you are buying is what it states it is?

There are lots of animals I don't eat and to be honest I have been thinking of becoming vegetarian, though not vegan. When I think about the slaughter of animals I find it unnecessary and I suppose it is laziness that has stopped me from being totally vegetarian.

When I buy mince to cook a shepherds pie for example, I buy the more expensive type. However, and this is the thing, I cannot be 100% certain that it is beef and not horse.
Yes I sometimes use the local butchers but I don't see him kill the animal and make the mince do I? Quite frankly if I did then I know for certain that I would never eat it again.
I don't think being smug about buying expensive meat is helpful.

yes countrykitten, we do once every few months. Home reared and slaughtered on a farm by a friend. I think a quick chopping off of the head after a decent life is fine. Not mass slaughter in an abbatoir after long travel.

God knows how long this has been going on for but I guess - not totally unexpected. Notice that neither Waitrose or M&S have been mentioned at all. If I couldnt afford Waitrose or M&S then tbh - I would be a veggie. And splash out on more expensive mince when I could. I heard on the radio that 20 yrs ago we spent 25-30% of our pay on food, now its around 12%. I think we can come to expect cheaper food.

Everyone moans about Ryanair. They charge for luggage and everything else they can. But what can you expect!! We went on a Ryanair flight at a cost of £25 each. We had to pay for our luggage (I am not going on holiday without all my stuff!) or we could have gone with BA for 5 times more and got our luggage included in the price. I thought Ryanair was fine. On time, no frills, and plane was completely full!

And you know -if I had eaten horse by mistake - well I am still standing, no side affects and I have more to worry about in life than this...

I completely understand where you're coming from, OP. Me, and the two small people of the household both eat meat and enjoy meat products.
DH is veggie and frowns at anything cheap meat. though. Which I've always agreed with him on, BUT even though we mainly cook from scratch and always veggie options, even when it comes to spag bol, it's SO easy to lapse into a false sense of security and eat meat you think is OK but probably isn't.
Processed meat sandwiches for packed lunches? Tinned ravioli on toast or meatball with pasta every now and again?
Makes you think what really is on those every now and again things and has woken me up a bit.
More shopping at the local farm shop for me now, never mind the supermarket. Which can only be a good thing.

Never eat cheap un-local meat so think we are OK. Horse meat with Bute is horrendous.

I am vegetarian, but dh eats meat. We usually order half a lamb from the butcher. It comes cleaned and chopped, with clear, identifiable pieces marked as shoulder, rib etc. No mince, no sausages or unidentifiable stuff.

The only time dh gets burgers is from M&S where it £5 for two beef burgers. And according to him, it is excellent quality

I don't think expensive equals good meat. But certainly, good quality meat is expensive

Scary stuff. I hope that we haven't eaten horse meat, but like everyone says, you never really know what you're buying. I buy mainly organic or free range chicken, but will also buy what is labelled as 'lean' mince from Asda. It makes me think of cutting out beef completely. I can't see me giving up meat completely, especially lamb as i find eating chicken and fish can become boring. I do incorporate vegetarian burgers/sausages in our meals, but haven't done so for several months. Will be going back to that to supplement our weekly meals. Its such a shame that there isn't much local butchers in my area of London. I don't like the Halal/indian butcher's shops, so don't shop there much. I've had so many bad experiences with them, from them ripping me off with change to trying to sell me stale meat!

Will sacrifice and get meat from M&S or Waitrose from now on.

I'm probably paranoid, but this whole scare has made me wonder how do I know the processed vegetarian products I enjoy once or twice a week are really safe? I'm going to cut right down, and opt for spicy bean burgers, instead of soya burgers, for example. Might try lentils in chilli rather than soya mince too.

If you are poor eat veggies? Only the rich should eat meat?

Bloody hell.

What is wrong with eating neat only occasionally, usual ? We veggies manage fine without meat, it is hardly a human right to eat meat everyday.

And what about the poor animals who are factory farmed and abused to provide cheap meat? Do they have no right to a happy and dignified existence?

Meat that is ethically produced will be expensive. And if people can't afford it on a daily basis, so be it.

Erm, meat, not 'neat'

There are plenty of things that the rich can afford regularly that I cannot! That is life. As flatbread says, good quality meat every now and then rather then cheap meat all the time is far preferable.

Genuinely interested in your home slaughter freetoanyhome - it certainly is preferable to factory farming and hideous slaughter methods. I am assuming that you are talking about poultry though as anything larger would be illegal - am I right? We are deep in farming country and I know that people 'deal' with their own birds here.

My girls are safe though- even if some of the buggers are ancient and barely lay!

This is a scandal about the criminal adulteration of food. This time it's meat eaten by ghastly people. It's been vegetables and water in the past.

Treating it as an opportunity to demonise people who do things we don't approve of lets the true culprits off the hook.

It is a scandal, which frankly, can be best controlled by joint efforts from regulators and consumers.

As long as there are unaware consumers who fuel the demand for cheap meat, there will be unscrupulous suppliers to meet that demand.

The only power consumers have is to kick up a fuss. And people aren't doing that in the case of this scandal because they think it affects other people who deserve it.

On this thread we have people breathing a sigh of relief because they don't eat meat or buy it from Waitrose, M&S or independent butchers, as if you know where they get their meat from.

But one of the food processors being investigated is 2 Sisters Food Group which supplies Harrods, BA, M&S and Pret A Manger and others and you don't get more well-respected brands than those.

Yesterday we had the chief executive of Waitrose basically blaming people who want cheap food and the rivals that sell it. This'll be the Waitrose who withdrew a range of frozen burgers this week 'purely as a precautionary measure'.

His opposite number from Iceland blew his trumpet while hitting out at local authorities supplying schools and hospitals. Places we are entitled to trust.

Unscrupulous suppliers are everywhere, selling every type of food. And food retailers have a duty to know exactly what they're selling.

You can't avoid being caught in a food scandal, but you can defend everyone who has been duped by criminal behaviour because next time it'll be you.

'Genuinely interested in your home slaughter freetoanyhome - it certainly is preferable to factory farming and hideous slaughter methods. I am assuming that you are talking about poultry though as anything larger would be illegal - am I right? We are deep in farming country and I know that people 'deal' with their own birds here. '

Yes. I dont do it myself (I am a hypocrite and I'm too afraid of causing them any pain by being inept). We have a small flock as we live in a city and naturally when you raise chicks you end up with a few cockerals plus I take in unwanted male chicks. We keep them until they start getting fighty and noisy then take them to a friend who uses the cone method. So we maybe get 6 birds a year. It varies as he takes some, friends take others. I feel they had a decent life, werent crushed to death at 1 day old and the death is as fast as can be (I do watch as I owe them that). I was veggie for decades but we now eat them and have meat maybe once every month or so from these roosters. We keep the hens even when they dont lay anymore but have only been doing this 6 years. Our oldest girl is 6 and still pops out the odd egg.

Thanks for explaining that. We too hatched a few boys but I did not have the guts to arrange for this to be done and they went to a local breeder who liked the look of them to breed from (they were a cochin and a buff orp). I think that the honesty of raising birds like this and seeing it through as you do is really commendable.

And you are not a hypocrite - it is humane to let an expert see to that part of their lives in order to keep it as quick as possible.

least I know they are chicken and not dobbin