Has the chevalburger incident changed your mind about food or shops you buy it in ?

rachbc

Personally I don't think there is anything more morally wrong with eating horse flesh than cos flesh or sheep flesh BUT I do think people need to be informed and be able to make that decision themselves. Apparently (sorry can't rememebr where I heard this) sales in horsemeat have increased since this all came out....

I did go though a phase of mincing my own meat but don't currently. I buy meat from butcher, farm shop and supermarkets but I don't buy processed food apart from sausages. I make my own burgers.

Stephen I agree butchers can be as bad as SM. I work in a college where butchers are trained and one of the tutors is an inspector - one day one of his colleagues was in one day getting a piece of meat from another butcher that was sold as sirloin examined - turns out it wasn't sirloin at all!

Kirri

Might be the gutter press but has some interesting examples, didn't remember Linda M pies containing real meat :eek: although back in 1993 I was still eating meat..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264918/Cheap-food-dressed-high-quality-sold-high-street.html

2011: Gourmet pesto sauce sold by Stark Naked Foods was supposed to contain extra virgin olive oil and Grana Padano cheese. In fact it was sunflower oil and a cheaper Latvian cheese. The firm was fined £23,500
2010: Egg packer jailed after making at least £3million by passing off foreign battery cage eggs as free range. The eggs were sold through Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. Keith Owen, from Worcestershire, was jailed for three years.
2007: Steaks sold by the Hungry Horse chain and restaurants in JD Wetherspoons pubs contained Zebu genes. This is not illegal, but diners may be short-changed as Zebu is known to be tougher than British beef. The steaks were imported from Brazil.
2007: Mitchells & Butler group, which owns Vintage Inns, O’Neills, All Bar One and Browns. prosecuted for food fraud. A buffalo mozzarella turned out to be full-fat cow’s cheese; Gloucestershire ham came from Bedfordshire farms; Irish Wexford cheese was a run of the mill mature cheddar.
2007: Harrods, Sainsbury’s and others found selling farmed salmon as more expensive wild-caught varieties. Other stores were selling farmed sea bass and sea bream as wild.
2005: Two butchers in Richmond, Surrey, prosecuted for selling organic chicken, sausages and lamb that came from conventional farms.
2005: Julie’s Restaurant, Notting Hill, found to be selling marinated roast chicken, sausages and spiced rack of lamb as organic, when in fact they were serving up cheaper meats.
2003: Thousands of tonnes of 'plastic chicken' imported into UK, according to Food Standards Agency . This is chicken pumped up with water, chemicals and flavourings.
2003: 46 per cent of Basmati rice samples were bulked up with cheaper varieties, according to FSA.
2003: Salami imported from Belgium and Italy contained horse meat. Two were bought at a Safeway store.
2002: Chicken that was due to go for pet food put into the human food chain - school meals, supermarkets, chicken nuggets – by Denby Poultry Products, of Derbyshire.
1993 Pies from Linda McCartney’s range were falsely labelled as 'suitable for vegetarians' but contained meat. Supplier Ross Young was fined £2,250 after the inspection by trading standards officers.

flubberyzing

I can't say it worries me particularly... I grew up on various processed meat products, and still have them from time to time in the form of chicken nuggets etc, and I'm in perfect health as far as I know.

As long as you are balancing the crap with decent food, I don't think there's a lot to worry about. Lord knows, I've got enough to worry about!

Everything in moderation.

spacey2012

Horse is fine, if it is bred for food.
We are talking about CAT1 food waste entering the food chain.
Not specially bred horse meat.

Lynsey

Anyone seen Sky News this morning??
Horse lovers beware, terrible treatment in the horse abattoir in Nantwich. They have lost their slaughter license though.

Some info HERE

Lynsey

M00minMama

We don't know whether the horses involved were fit for human conumption, diseased or rotting. It isn't the fact that it is horse (or anything else for that matter) that concerns me; my issue is that SOMETHING has contaminated the food chain.That is the real problem.

When we buy something to eat from a retailer they are responsible for ensuring it meets food standards from preparation through to sale. They can be do this by purchasing products ready to sell from a manufacturer such as BirdsEye or by conducting the manufacturing process themselves (in reality by sub- contracting a third party).
Obviously something has gone awry during the manufacturing
Stage, but the retailer still has responsibility.

gailey_2

Some bits copied and pasted from guardian

article 16/01/13

How did horsemeat get into the food chain?

One of the factories involved, Dalepak Hambleton, says it is likely to have come from a minor ingredient in the burgers, as all but one of the burgers had very low levels of the DNA. The investigations will focus on suppliers to the factories. The huge amount of DNA in one product does raise questions about whether more major ingredients were contaminated.

A statement from Silvercrest said: "Silvercrest has never purchased or traded in equine product and has launched a full-scale investigation into two continental European third-party suppliers who are the suspected source of the product in question."

As well as the burgers, the FSAI analysis found small traces of horse DNA in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain. However, these weren't ingredients that had been used in the tested burgers.

Whats the minor ingrediant doesnt say. I think its the protein filler which they trying not to advertise.

then more recent article 18/01/013

The Tesco burgers that contained up to 29% equine DNA were likely to have been made with high-protein powders derived from horse rather than fresh meat, the Guardian has been told.

The main focus of efforts to trace the source of adulteration in the Tesco economy burgers has now shifted from the meat itself to additives used in the manufacturing process. The Irish processors ABP have pointed the finger at suppliers of the "beef ingredient products" it uses to make cheap burgers. The Tesco burgers were only 63% meat and 37% other ingredients.

Economy burgers are typically bulked out with additive mixes of concentrated proteins extracted from animal carcasses and offcuts. Industry sources said the 29% horse DNA was more likely to have originated with these high-protein powders from rendered horses rather than any fresh horse meat. ABP declined to comment on its ingredients or on the companies it uses for additive mixes but they are believed to be in the Netherlands and Spain. The processor said it had stopped work at its Silvercrest Foods plant in Co Monaghan, Ireland, until further notice.


The Guardian has been told efforts to trace the source of adulteration in the Tesco economy burgers are focusing on additives used in the manufacturing process. ABP has pointed the finger at suppliers of the "beef ingredient products" it uses to make cheap burgers. The Tesco burgers were only 63% meat and 37% other ingredients. Economy burgers are typically bulked out with additive mixes of concentrated proteins extracted from animal carcasses and offcuts. Industry sources said the 29% horse DNA was more likely to have originated with these high-protein powders from rendered horses rather than any fresh horse meat. ABP declined to comment on its ingredients or on the companies it uses for additive mixes but they are believed to be in the Netherlands and Spain.

I dont know whats worse

contaminated meat or it hiddens in protein powders upto 37%non meat god knows what
how they trace exact sources of protein in these powders my gues sis they wont they can say thats source but never really be sure where exactly its come from:(



The Guardian has been told efforts to trace the source of adulteration in the Tesco economy burgers are focusing on additives used in the manufacturing process. ABP has pointed the finger at suppliers of the "beef ingredient products" it uses to make cheap burgers. The Tesco burgers were only 63% meat and 37% other ingredients. Economy burgers are typically bulked out with additive mixes of concentrated proteins extracted from animal carcasses and offcuts. Industry sources said the 29% horse DNA was more likely to have originated with these high-protein powders from rendered horses rather than any fresh horse meat. ABP declined to comment on its ingredients or on the companies it uses for additive mixes but they are believed to be in the Netherlands and Spain.

Industry insiders have told the Guardian they believe that an ingredient called "drind", dehydrated rind or skin, may be at the heart of the scandal. It is commonly used to bulk up cheap meat products.

Additives made from boiled hide or offcuts of carcasses are typically used to bind in added fat and water and increase the protein levels of economy beef products that have a low meat content. These may legally be identified simply as "seasoning" on the label.-SEASONING THAT SEEMS CLEARLY WRONG TO ME!

The labelling is misleading, dishonest and confusing

How long the adulteration and contamination discovered

I always try and buy stuff like b/e that says 100%beef or chicken.

but i may of had this is

ready meal
burgers served other peoples houses or meals out.
premier inn/beef eater just withdrawn their burgers
burger king has to.

new tests this week show 9/13products at factory contaminated factory is now shut.


Mostly people seem blase if its so safe

why destroy all stock

investigation man raises some valid points

Campbell is the chief public analyst for West Yorkshire and a leading expert on the quality of meat. He will carry out some of the testing as the official investigation into the horsemeat scandal develops.

He said that it was "a reflex" for the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to say there was no food safety aspect to scandals of this sort, despite the fact that the law has clearly been broken, which may also mean that it has been broken in other ways.

He questioned whether raw materials could be coming from slaughterhouses that were not approved for processing meat for human consumption, or from unfit horses destined for the knacker's yard but which had instead ended up in the human food chain.

There could also be risks around residues of medicines used for sick animals but not considered safe for the human food chain, he added.

Its total mess and wish they be honest with general public by listing every ingrediant and explaining hat it is an where its come from.

its been an eye opener for me and makes me not trust processed products.



This is good article

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/18/horse-burgers-supermarkets-lose-touch-eat?intcmp=239

I do wonder if this is tip of iceberg if other products like ready meals and packs mince will be affected.


Ignore the chatter about horsemeat being good for you; this is not an opportunity to amaze with pony recipes, but a vast fraud perpetrated, inevitably, against poorer consumers. Was anyone surprised that the adulteration occurred in "value" products? I am surprised that the outcry has not been louder – so far, most of the tears shed have been for the cute ponies, not for the cute children who obliviously swallowed the cute ponies, and then played with their plastic cousins.

its really sad suspect tesco is higher as they use less beef.

ironic really that the most expensive part the beef has been comprimised by cheap filler which has not only resulted in huge losses for retailers and suppliers but bad pr and downturn in sales in future I suspect.


I fear lack regulation
customer base
The way uk food retail is
demand for cheap products

made the uk the perfect place to dump this stuff and get away with it as we not too fussy.

we dont really know what goes into our food or where it comes from-sad day.

Even no truths out people not outraged, whats the harm, we want cheap meat, horses are healthy so tesco think they got away with treating uk consumer with such contempt.

Im taking drastic action now even if means going veggie and cant knowingly feed the kids crap no matter how tight our budget is.

yes saw sky news bit was terrible -thourght there were only 2 legal abbatoirs that looked after horses in uk,

antrobus

M00minMama wrote: »

We don't know whether the horses involved were fit for human conumption, diseased or rotting.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland, being the people that originally went all CSI and carried out the DNA tests, have declared that the "products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried". If there were any indications that the pigs or horses concerned had been diseased or rotting or indeed otherwise unfit for human consumption then presumably they would have said so.

M00minMama wrote: »

...
It isn't the fact that it is horse (or anything else for that matter) that concerns me; my issue is that SOMETHING has contaminated the food chain.That is the real problem.

Well quite. But if you look at the website of our very own Food Standards Agency you will see that food product recalls due to 'contamination' issues. Recent cases include a brand of tofu that was contaminated with a bacterium that did pose a threat to human health, but that story somehow didn't make it into the Daily Mail.

Middy

No as I don't buy cheap burgers and other cheap meat. The only burgers I have eaten in the past year have been Sainsburys' TTD ones (when they have yellow stickerrs)

It will not stop me going to these affected shops.

People that are stop shopping at T because of this are ignorant! The affected burgers have been removed and no other products are affected.

gailey_2

Middy wrote: »

No as I don't buy cheap burgers and other cheap meat. The only burgers I have eaten in the past year have been Sainsburys' TTD ones (when they have yellow stickerrs)

It will not stop me going to these affected shops.

People that are stop shopping at T because of this are ignorant! The affected burgers have been removed and no other products are affected.

My dislike of tesco was already there before this.

The way they behave on tv

hughs campaigns againt chicken and fish

jimmys giant supermarket-it was clear was all about bottom line

the way they have destroyed the high street.They operate agressive expansion policy when they get refused they just keep trying until they get their way see

rip off and corrupt prices anyone remember the fiasco last year over pricedrops.

Its strikes me as odd they 29% and others are trace 1%of less.

not to mention tescos near me

allfar too huge
not best customer service /layout,

Not to mention using cheap workfare.

I know people who work for them and they very hard.