On Wonky Donkeys
First of all, let me make my position clear on this. I was very much on the 'well, crap meat is crap, qu'elle surprise' side of the argument till I started looking onto it. Now? Not so much. I'm fucking angry.
One crisis, two problems.
The first, lesser issue, isn't the fact that some beef lasagne contains horse meat (arguably a better quality meat than the mechanically recovered cow parts usually used) but that it's been sold as 'beef'. If you buy beef anything you expect to get beef.. or at least cow related parts. So that's trading standards / sale of goods
You'll get no argument from me, it's a criminal offence to sell something that is NOT what it claims to be. Who is responsable? The manufacturer, the suppliers, the FSA, the government, the customers who want cheaper and cheaper products? Well, we can argue about that until the cows come home I guess.
The second problem, and this is by far the most serious, is that it's unclear if the horse meat used was raised for use as a human foodstuff.
Many of the veterinary pharmaceuticals used in non-food animals are harmful to humans. Not least among these is phenylbutazone or 'bute', a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug used in horses. It is a potential carcinogen and causes anaemia in humans.A further issue, albeit a lesser one, is that the supply chain involved in this meat getting to market is labyrinthine
At the moment it looks like the French suppliers to the UK and Irish firms were buying meat form Canada and Mexico that had in turn originated in the USA. Without wanting to sound like a flag waving jingoist, so much for "British" beef.
This latest debacle shows that the 'enforcement' efforts of the FSA are a total farce
And selling food down to a price to people who are buying to price while knowingly using materials which have, at best, a dubious origin, isn't just a criminal act, it's a repugnant, immoral and shameful one.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/ios-investigation-horsemeat-scandal-reveals-trail-of-shadowy-suppliers-8488391.html