'Horse lasagne' sparks new British food scare

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  • 1

    Wakarimasen

    Yum.

  • 0

    nandakandamanda

    Nay! So that is what gave me the hoarse voice.

  • 1

    Surf O'Holic

    But, does it taste good? You betcha!

  • 2

    megosaa

    never knew that eating horse meat is considered a taboo in the UK.. guess it's not their cup of tea.

  • 0

    cleo

    Uggh. They'll be finding dogmeat in the sausages next.

  • 1

    zichi

    Cleo

    You know that Brits don't eat dogs?

  • 3

    zichi

    Horse meat is used in several kinds of salami.

  • 0

    nandakandamanda

    zichi, Cleo is a Brit and vegetarian with it. We used to have horsemeat sausages at school in Worcestershire and we were forced to eat every last mouthful.

  • -1

    cleo

    We used to have horsemeat sausages at school in Worcestershire and we were forced to eat every last mouthful.

    If anyone had tried to feed us horsemeat in our school dinner there would have been a riot in the dining room. And that was before I caught vegetarianism. Like I said, eating horse is like eating dog. or cat. Brits just don't do it.

  • 3

    zichi

    Its only in recent times Brits stopped eating horse meat but it was more common. Its low in fat and high in protein.

  • 0

    Madverts

    Get a grip "great" Britain.

    Nobody needs to be scared eating horsemeat, it tastes and looks like beef. Only better...

  • 4

    SwissToni

    I don't accept it's not a food safety problem. If the companies dont know what's going into the product, they've lost control of the process. How can the failure to identify where the meat comes from not be a food safety issue?

    Clearly the European food standards authorities have got some work to do.

  • 0

    davestrousers

    It keeps getting worse, they're now saying that the Vegiburgers are 100% uniquorn.

  • 0

    cleo

    zichi, horsemeat has never been a normal part of the Brit menu. During war, etc., when there was nothing else, it was eaten by some, but that's about it.

    When I was a little girl, our local butcher sold rabbit. My Mum refused to buy it because of her memories of wartime rumours of spivs passing off catmeat as rabbit. She couldn't face a dish of rabbit without wondering if she was eating someone's pet nicked off the street. And she didn't even like cats, refused to have one in the house. With all this hoohaa over horsemeat hidden in burgers and lasagna, I wonder if Mr and Mrs Average UK will become wary about eating 'beef', if mealtimes come with images of Black Beauty grilled and sauted?

  • 3

    Madverts

    "I wonder if Mr and Mrs Average UK will become wary about eating 'beef', if mealtimes come with images of Black Beauty grilled and sauted?"

    We all tucked into Ermintrude the cow as kids...

    I don't get the outrage about eating horsemeat, it freely able here in France and absolutely suculent.

  • 0

    Madverts

    Succulent whoops

  • 2

    Surf O'Holic

    Horse sashimi is wonderful.

  • 2

    zichi

    cleo

    while I do see a problem about buying horse meat when you think you are buying beef, I see no problem in eating it or rabbits for that matter provided the meat came from healthy creatures.

    When I was a child, just after WWII there was plenty of horse meat being sold.

    I equally accept that you don't eat any creatures so you won't be buying any of it.

  • 1

    bass4funk

    Well prepared, virtually any meat can taste good, literally.

  • 3

    Surf O'Holic

    From wiki:

    " Despite the general Anglophone taboo, horse and donkey meat was eaten in Britain, especially in Yorkshire, until the 1930s, [10] and in times of post-war food shortage surged in popularity in the United States [11] and was considered for use in hospitals. [12] A 2007 Time magazine article about horse meat brought in from Canada to the United States characterized the meat as sweet, rich, superlean, oddly soft meat, and closer to beef than[13]"

    Bon appetit!

  • 1

    zichi

    I guess people have never tried Pastissada de Caval or horse meat stew, cooked in wine. Rich in iron.

  • 2

    zichi

    British chef, Gordon Ramsay, is a very vocal proponent horse meat. British Chef Jamie Oliver has a recipe for horsemeat roll,

    In Japan, horse meat is served raw.

  • 0

    Madverts

    Tournedos with foie gras poêlé "façon Rossini" is one of my favourite dishes.

  • 1

    cleo

    British Chef Jamie Oliver has a recipe for horsemeat roll

    Are you sure? I googled 'Jamie Oliver horsemeat roll' and found a number of sites making the same claim (with no links), but a search for 'horse' on jamieoliver.com turned up nothing but horseradish, and in an article about the horse dna found in burgers he urges people to leave the 'value' products on the shelves and instead visit the local butcher to buy unadulterated meat. He also says that he personally has never eaten horse. I find it hard to believe that he would publish a recipe he hadn't tried.

    http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-blogs/horse-meat-neigh-local-butchery/

    British chef, Gordon Ramsay, is a very vocal proponent horse meat.

    Gordon Ramsey is very vocal pr@t who thinks it's funny to serve ham and chicken stock to vegetarian diners and lie about it.

  • 0

    Konsta

    zichiFeb. 08, 2013 - 05:37PM JST In Japan, horse meat is served raw.

    In Japan, it is also served as horse meat and not as beef, as in Britain.

  • 0

    zichi

    @cleo

    Ramsay is not the only one championing the meat. There’s even a recipe for “horsemeat rolls”, a sort of equine saltimbocca, from Jamie Oliver in a recent Telegraph magazine. You may have to wait until that French holiday to try it for yourself though. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551693/The-merits-of-horse-meat.html

  • 0

    Tessa

    Horsemeat sashimi is a delicacy in Japan, but it's not really popular or widely available outside of Kumamoto in Kyushu.

    Meanwhile, in another time and place, my uncle told me that he ate horsemeat pies as a child (post-war UK, and I'm sure he wasn't lying).

  • 2

    zichi

    Finus should be fined for selling horse meat labelled beef but probably they should also go on selling their horse meat lasagne but correctly labelled. A whole new market for the company.

  • 1

    C Harald Hansen

    That lasagna is probably not worse than some of the other trash we eat nowadays.

  • 0

    Konsta

    I think, even British people would agree that if labelled and sold properly, the horse meet dishes are good, and there would be no problems whatsoever. Plus, a little advertisement campaign would help.

    I do not understand why it is taboo in Britain, as this article says.

  • 2

    cleo

    yes zichi, that was one of the sites making the claim that I found (with the variation of it appearing 'in a recent Telegraph magazine' rather than on his website). No links to any recipe, though. Googling 'Telegraph magazine' and 'Telegraph magazine recipes Jamie Oliver' also produces no horsemeat roll recipe. It doesn't exist.

  • -1

    cleo

    I do not understand why it is taboo in Britain,

    It's on a par with cats and dogs and next door's toddler.

  • 1

    zichi

    Cleo It don't matter much and I believe there would be Brits quite happy to eat horse meat which is probably more healthy than eating beef from cows which are pumped full of antibiotics over TB.

    Eating horse meat isn't the same as eating cat dogs or the toddler next door.

    This post isn't about vegetarianism which is your choice and I'm very happy to accept that.

  • 3

    Thunderbird2

    Get a grip "great" Britain.

    Nobody needs to be scared eating horsemeat, it tastes and looks like beef. Only better...

    To us horses aren't a food source but a pet, ergo we don't eat them... and I'm going veggie, or at least no more mammal meat - stick to fish and poultry.

  • 1

    Thunderbird2

    I don't get the outrage about eating horsemeat, it freely able here in France and absolutely suculent.

    The French will eat anything.

  • 0

    Vernie Jefferies

    British authorities warned the public Thursday not to eat beef lasagne sold by the Findus brand and made in France after tests found it contained up to 100% horse meat.

    I am not too surprised by the report. It's common that they eat horse meat in France.

  • 2

    Cos

    Brits just don't do it.

    What a disciplined nation ! Everybody doing the same. Well, you can speak for yourself. Others of your compatriots have farmed and slaughtered horse massively since forever. So after the horse is dead, you believe they could afford letting such a big amount of meat rot ? They surely had no second thought about putting it in the pies they'd sell to factory workers. Now they export it to the continent, where it is used to make lasagne that are imported back to Britain... That's not a case of "cruel barbarians" vs "nice Brits" as the horses are slaughtered in your islands. With fraud on both sides.

    If anyone had tried to feed us horsemeat in our school dinner there would have been a riot in the dining room

    You didn't riot because you didn't know.

    eat horse meat which is probably more healthy than eating beef from cows which are pumped full of antibiotics over TB.

    I agree that if I had to buy ready made lasagne (what an idea !), I'd take the horse ones in priority. And I'd get buffalo rather than beef.

    passing off catmeat as rabbit

    For squirrel. Cat would never pass for rabbit.

    Eating horse meat isn't the same as eating cat dogs

    As the cats and dogs are carnivores, that type of meat, is very different in taste and texture, more like venison. For the rest, they are all farmed meat, so I see no greater moral reason to avoid dog meat rather than pork, beef or chicken. Nobody is forced either. A friend eats of most things, including chicken but no quails, she says she find the idea gross, and well OK, I can understand. You don't want to eat cat, dog, horse, rabbit... it's the same personal choice. I am for protecting wild life, and banning the most abusive farming practices. So I find the threatened fish sushi and the hen eggs really worse than horse meat. The horse had quite a nice life, doing races with her highness Tara, running in green spaces, the hens a life of hell without ever seeing the color of the sky. And you might be eating the last specimen of the South Atlantic stripped tuna (imaginary example, the situation is real), but surely not the last horse.
    a

    or the toddler next door.

    It's our own species. Most of us make a difference between human and other animals. Otherwise, the neighbors would get Cleo arrested for abducting and restraining "family members" in cages and with leashes.

    Findus should be fined

    Sure, they deserve legal troubles. And they also should lose their customers. I mean they fool you once, forget them. A cheat is a cheat. Later, they'll cheat on additives, on hygiene, on dates...

    “We are demanding that food businesses conduct authenticity tests on all beef products,

    She will ask the criminals to check themselves ? Sounds like the Tour de France : "Hey, team managers, check your athletes for dope, we will do an official test next Tuesday..." .

    • Moderator

      All readers back on topic please. The subject is horsemeat in lasagne.

  • 2

    Jimizo

    If the lasagna is labelled 'beef' then it should contain beef. If I want horse meat, I'll buy it. The joys of eating horse are hardly the point here.

  • 0

    zichi

    The majority of horses aren't pets but in fact working animals.

  • 2

    Thunderbird2

    The majority of horses aren't pets but in fact working animals.

    Exactly... not reared as food. Collies are working animals, but I don't expect to see Border Collie, Labrador or Alsation on a menu either.

    We have used certain animals as companions and beasts of burden, not as meat on legs... for that we chose to domesticate cows and sheep. We look after horses, care for them... we don't need to eat them. There is no disaster which has wiped out all cattle, sheep, fowl, etc... so why eat horses?

    People in the UK are disgusted by this. Maybe we are too sensitive, too attached to our ideals about what we do and don't eat... but we don't want to eat horses. Why is that so hard to understand?

  • 1

    zichi

    There are Brits who for religious reasons would be disgusted to eat pork and beef. Today, there are many nationalities which make up the population and not all have the same disgust about eating horse meat.

  • -1

    Steven C. Schulz

    It's much more than horses being though of as pets.

    Over the centuries, horses have been close companions on the battlefield and sport; they are smart and loyal, and have thus earned a sancrosanct position in the national identities Britain, the Commonwealth, and the U.S.

    In these countries, they are simply too valued to be considered a food crop animal.

  • 1

    Jimizo

    I really don't see the issue here. The eating of various creatures such ad pigs, cows, insects, dogs, cats is repulsive depending on cultures, traditions and religions. Many British people are uncomfortable with eating horses - the reasons for this, irrational or not, are irrelevant to the issue in the article. If I go to for a curry and order a chicken curry and am served with a seafood curry, I don't expect a lecture on the health or taste wonders of prawns.

  • 1

    cleo

    Anyone remember the fuss about a decade ago when it was found McDonald's was using beef fat in its 'vegetarian' fries sold in India? It doesn't matter what the added 'surprise' ingredient is; if the contents don't match what it says on the label then the customer is being duped. And not even people who eat low-end frozen ready-meals like to be duped. When the 'surprise' is something the majority of people would never eat if they knew what they were putting into their mouths, there is naturally a to-do.

  • 2

    zichi

    Its 100% wrong and criminal when foodstuffs are mislabeled.

  • 0

    Jimizo

    @zichi and cleo Great posts. I feared these comments would turn into pretentious recipe swapping. Stop mislabeling food! Ok?

  • 0

    TheQuestion

    While it's always annoying when foreign meats get into a product I'm trying to figure out how the managed to get horse into it especially in the volumes this article is talking about. Horse meat, at least in the US, is expensive. It's still criminal to mislable but on the up side horse meat tastes better in my experience.

    For those likening it to eating pets I've had dog and cat before and there is no way you can pass them off for beef or rabbit. Predator meat is stringy and greasy, not terribly good.

  • 1

    Fadamor

    they (horses) are smart and loyal

    So are pigs, but that's never stopped the onslaught of bacon and sausage for breakfast.

    Personally, I feel that if you don't like the thought of eating horse, that's fine. If you're buying a pre-packaged lasagne that is labeled as containing "beef", however, the presence of horsemeat is fraud irrespective of your views on eating horsemeat.

    I'm reminded of the 1981 scandal when meat destined for the U.S. fast food chain "Jack in the Box" was found to contain horsemeat. From wiki:

    In 1981, horse meat labeled as beef was discovered at a Foodmaker plant that supplied hamburger and taco meat to Jack in the Box. The meat was originally from Profreeze of Australia, and during their checks on location, the food inspectors discovered other shipments destined for the United States which included kangaroo meat.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_in_the_Box#Controversies

  • 0

    badsey3

    Horse meat could have phenylbutazone.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/video/2013/feb/08/horsemeat-phenylbutazone-human-consumption-video

  • 0

    SwissToni

    Badsey, you're right of course. If the manufacturere doesnt know the provenance of the ingredients in their products, it might not just be phenylbutazone to worry about. From what I can see, the 'passport system' controls in the management of food don't seem to work, especially in the processed food industry.

    The answer is to buy fresh meat from the butcher. At least then there's some chance of identifying it. So......no need for the long face.

  • 0

    RomeoRII

    Had horse meat when i was in Japan. Tastes like chicken.

    RR

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