h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

after the revelation of beef burgers tainted with horse and pig meat
would you object to eating something openly marketed as horse meat?

why?

it's quite normal in many countries including France where they breed a type of horse (slightly different in build and stature to riding horses) just for eating (apparently)

I think it would be a bit strange eating a horse, but we eat cow and sheep and goat and pig and numerous other things, why not horse?

Had some (mail order) horse fillet steak last month. Very nice.

It's just the media and then the companies tripping over themselves.

I'd prefer some horse meat in burgers it's less fatty.

We had this discussion at work today. Am I correct in thinking it was illegal to sell horse meat in this country for many years?

B

Would you eat dog, or guinea pig?

Many people don't eat animals at all.

It's just a sliding scale. Pin yourself somewhere. Don't expect others to agree.

I've eaten horse, and would do it again... I thought it was rather nice and I imagine takes marinades quite well.

The media's insistence on using the word 'contaminated' bugs me. Contaminited means poisoned or polluted. Horse is perfectly edible. It's just our sanitised eats-meat-but-doesn't-like-to-think-about-where-it-came-from culture that's made it into some horrid evil thing.

"just our sanitised eats-meat-but-doesn't-like-to-think-about-where-it-came-from culture"

This is particularly ironic given that we're talking about Tesco's budget beefburgers, of course.

B

Isn't it more of an issue that there was a meat in there that shouldn't have been? Can't say that I'd have much issue with eating horsemeat, but I like to know what's on the label is what I'm getting.

Given there was some pork in there as well I can imagine some religious folk would be quite upset too.

oh I was just to say what Hl said

There are animals that I don't eat and I'd be hacked off if I was unknowingly eating it

re-reads OP

I wouldn't object to eating horse meat

That's exactly the problem. It's not that I'd have a problem eating horse meat - but that around a third of the product consisted of something not even mentioned on the label. If that's in there unmarked, who knows what else is?

I'm reminded of some of the reports about why they never found the body of Robert Nairac, for instance.

I'd have no problem with eating horse in a restaurant, but I've been told that since horses have not been bred for their meat, it tends to be a bit tough. I'm sure the chef could come up with some suitable method of cooking it.

>Isn't it more of an issue that there was a meat in there that shouldn't have been? Can't say that I'd have much issue with eating horsemeat, but I like to know what's on the label is what I'm getting<

This. *looks up*

I've eaten 'high' donkey meat in Italy and of course entire countries have a penchant for horsemeat.

BUT - they're called beefburgers and made no mention of any other mean content that I'm aware of. Points at dodgy, dodgy suppliers I think - what else are they up to?

The press have, as usual, gone bananas though It made me laugh no end on the news yesterday as they pranced out the street expecting indignation after indignation from people they interviewed and almost all to a (wo)man just shrugged and effectively went 'So?'

In Belgium you can eat horse, but it's not that popular. Unlike rabbit, which is found in every supermarket.

Frankly, if you eat the cheapest burgers in the supermarket, you should be glad you're getting any form of meat at all.

sprout

Count me as a plus 1 for the no problem with eating horsemeat crowd. But at the same time worried about mislabeling of food.

I think we have a right to make informed choices about what we eat and the scandal for me is not the horse but the mislabelling.

FB

Technically hamburgers are mislabeled.

The packaging was not knowingly mislabeled though, the suppliers had given meat that was supposed to be beef but it turned out wasn't entirely.

Not that this will encourage the supermarkets to start giving more support to British farmer and suppliers.

The mislabelling means either they don't care what goes into their burgers, or they intended to give us cheap horsemeat and hoped we wouldn't find out, or they have no control whatsoever over how their burgers are made.

I honestly can't think of an acceptable excuse.

My local butcher can tell me which cow, from which farm went into his beef burgers. Tesco can't even tell me which species is in theirs.

On the plus side it has led to some excellent punning on facebook. Silver linings and all that.

"The mislabelling means either they don't care what goes into their burgers, or they intended to give us cheap horsemeat and hoped we wouldn't find out, or they have no control whatsoever over how their burgers are made."

The supplier mislead, either by accident or design, the manufacturer who then sold the 'beef' burgers to various supermarkets in good faith. So no, they don't actually have control over how 'their' burgers are made.

Though that "value" supermarket birgers might not be 100% prime and lovely sourced meat is, surely, a little bit "Dog bites man"?

FB