Chevalgate update

Edwardia

ABP owner of Silvercrest which made the Tesco Everyday [STRIKE]beef[/STRIKE]horseburgers has reacted to criticism from the Irish government in their report.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horsemeat-abp-bitterly-disappointed-by-irish-government-report-on-horsemeat-scandal/237600.article

ASDA and Dalepak mince 29% horse
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horse-meat/horsemeat-dalepak/asda-mince-found-to-contain-29-horse/237579.article

One processor knew there was a problem last summer.. yup I reckon they've all been doing it for years, it's not just one processsor it's loads..
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horse-meat/horsemeat-processor-knew-of-contamination-last-summer/237566.article

Aldi pulls meatloaf
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horse-meat/horsemeat-aldi-pulls-oakhurst-frozen-meatloaf/237574.article

And more horsemeat news from a Birds Eye supplier
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/-horsemeat-qk-meats-apologises-for-keeping-quiet-about-horse-dna-discovery/237599.article

Lidl withdraws more food
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horse-meat/horsemeat-lidl-withdraws-chilli-as-precautionary-measure/237593.article

Tesco finds horsemeat in meatloaf
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/topics/food-safety/horsemeat-tesco-pulls-meatloaf-after-it-tests-positive-for-horse/237420.article

PLRFD

Thanks for update.

A._Badger

Readers of Dr Richard North's blog, which I've linked to before, will have been following this story as it unfolds daily across Europe - for all that it has largely worn-out the attention span of our mass media.

Dr North's recent article on the Irish dimension can be found here http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=83715 and it makes worrying reading.

Meanwhile back when this scandal broke, I made the suggestion that at the root was likely to be criminal activity (and was, hilariously, accused of 'racism' by one commentator).

I now see that the boss of Nestle (the world's biggest food producer) agrees with me - apologies for an exceptionally weak article: - .http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9934806/Nestle-boss-blames-fraudsters-over-horse-meat.html

What seems to have emerged is a picture in EU incompetence, food manufacturers and retailers with appallingly low standards, a complacent public obsessed with cheapness and organised criminals always looking for new ways to make a fast buck (from a slow horse).

I'd like to think the result of this scandal would be people less willing to stuff any old rubbish down their necks so long as it's cheap and doesn't involve any effort to prepare. Sadly, though, only yesterday I saw a pile of Findus frozen pasta dishes selling quite normally in a supermarket. I really get the impression that some people just don't care

Callie22

I've said this before but I reckon this has been going on for a very, very long time. I've always been slightly suspicious of supermarket 'value' food, particularly meat based stuff and ready meals. We've been fed a line that the supermarkets sell the stuff as 'no frills', so it's in less pretty packaging but that it's the 'same' quality ingredients. I've never believed that this is possible - you can only get so much edible beef from one cow - and I've long thought that a lot of these meals and meat products have been doctored in some way. I had assumed that it was mainly added water, salt, sugar, flour, emulsifiers etc etc, but it's not a huge leap of imagination to work out that they've been using meat and meat proteins from other animal sources. It's long been known, for example, that horse and donkey are used a lot in meat products, particularly cured meat sold on the continent, but I had (naively) assumed that it wasn't getting over here.

However, I can easily see how this has happened. The supermarkets just haven't been asking questions of their suppliers. If a supplier in Ireland/France/whereever tells Tesco that they can make their value lasganes for 10p less per unit, then Tesco is going to spend longer looking at their increased profits than they are the content of the ready meal. It's also an indictment of how convoluted the supply chains have become for processed foods.

But it's like A.Badger says, people really don't seem to care about this. 'Horsemeat' has become a bit of a joke. Fair enough, it's meat and it's edible and it *probably* isn't going to do anyone much harm. However I imagine it won't be long before there's another scandal over something in our food that's really not edible at all. It kind of shows that we've learnt nothing from the whole BSE/CJD scandal, and that people will shove anything down their throats if it's cheap enough.

Edwardia

A. Badger - not some people don't care what they eat, many people don't care, unfortunately. Could this be a factor making the British the fattest nation in Europe ?

I find it incredible that people would rather eat rubbish filled with *meat* , pesticide residues, additives, colourings, preservatives and transfats all year round in order to be able to watch SKY or go to Magaluf or wear synthetic clothes made by child labour, emblazoned with advertisements for a designer who did nothing more than license the use of his name for a serious amount of dosh.

Even worse, is feeding that carp to growing kids who need nutritious food.

That head in the sand zombie attitude is crippling the NHS. But people spend less time thinking about what's going in their mouths and that of their kids than they do fretting over plot lines on Corrie.

If Soylent Green were on the market, I'm sure it would be a runaway winner.

So sorry A. Badger, if you thought the masses would start protesting at the carp in the food and demanding real beef, no artificial colourings, flavourings and preservatives etc you were being naive.

But for the few who do care that they get beef when they pay for it, I thought I'd update.

lindseykim13

Thanks for the update.
Is there a newer updated list of the products withdrawn?

Alot has to be said for people just not thinking much about what they are buying/eating. I will own up to having no idea what goes in some foods.
I have learnt a lot since i got digestive problems a year ago that most wouldn't know without spending time hunting the internet.
Unfortunatly a lot of people did trust the supermarkets-we all assume that there are safety checks going on to ensure we don't eat something bad but it's amazing what they are legally allowed to get away with anyway.

Edwardia

lindseykim13 the dates on the links from The Grocer are 15th or 16th March ie Friday and Saturday. The Grocer's articles were updating news on previous pulled products, informing readers about a processor which lied and has admitted to horsemeat etc. They aren't old links from January.

HTH x

alandbailey

Due to bariatric surgery, I NEED to have 100-120gm protein daily. I could not afford to have only the best meat, but am happy to eat horse etc so long as I like the taste , it has lots of protein and is affordable for a single pensioner on low income.:)

sophlowe45

Post 5 completely agree Edwardia.

When I was a child and a teenager I never thought certain foods were bad for me, the cool kids went to McDonalds, hence I wanted to go too.

I used to drink so much Coca Cola every day, buy sweets with friends before school, get chips and chocolates on the way home, as did lots of people at school, break times at secondary school, there was a rush to the school shop to buy junk or jump over the wall and go the local shop and buy junk and cigarettes. This was all done with money received from my parents and they bought big bottles of Coca Cola, Ribena, Lucozade etc. to consume at home.

I still get so upset at my parents, as they allowed me to do all the above (and the rest of my peers friends parents too). My parents don't think they did anything wrong, I suspect many parents may feel this way too.

At university, I can't remember anyone considering what they were eating (or drinking not to mention drugs). My first job, all I wanted was convenience, I used to come home from work, put food in the oven, have a shower, eat crap and go to bed. Cooking food was never considered as something worth making time for. I suspect this may be the case for many people.

Its taken the internet, putting on weight, but mostly watching supersize vs superskinny (I know you might say daft commercial programme but it is a good way of seeing what happens to people, what they eat, the food demonstrations of what people eat, the health problems etc).

So now I am working on eating food and encouraging my friends to as well, no one is particularly interested though.

Stompa

Edwardia wrote: »

But for the few who do care that they get beef when they pay for it...

I guess Abel & Cole should be added to the list then:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9934282/Abel-and-Cole-withdraws-beef-ready-meals.html

A._Badger

alandbailey wrote: »

Due to bariatric surgery, I NEED to have 100-120gm protein daily. I could not afford to have only the best meat, but am happy to eat horse etc so long as I like the taste , it has lots of protein and is affordable for a single pensioner on low income.:)

As has been said several times, it isn't about eating horsemeat - it's about whether you are being told you are buying one product and actually getting something completely different. That's fraud in anyone's language.

There is a secondary issue, of course, and that is if the source of a product is untraceable then you cannot know what it might contain or how it has been stored or handled. .