Chevalburgers

[PeterG]

I've heard Tesco meatballs are the dogs bo$$ocks.

[Alan Zoff]

My doctor told me I should watch what I eat.

I've booked tickets for the Grand National in April.

[Frederick]

Panto horse prank  looking for mum and dad  in Tesco goes viral  !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwe8zAPb4V8

[NickP]

And while your thinking about horse meat in "beefburgers" how about a nice bit of Italian donkey meat in your Salami? [:D]

[woolybanana]

No problemo!

[Racerbear02]

The evening this horrifying  ( [8-)] ) revelation came to light and was the main news item on the BBC, we were having a lovely carbonade de cheval with  wholemeal horse(!)radish dumplings with some guests.

We all enjoyed it as you would expect.  Horse meat is cheaper and tastier than equivalent priced dead cow.

What is the basis of the outrage, the fact there there was actually MEAT of any sort in a value burger?? according to the BBC

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has two classifications for burger products - standard and economy.

A standard beefburger can only be classified as such if it

comprises a minimum of 62% beef. Similarly, a chicken (or other poultry)

or rabbit burger must contain a minimum of 55% meat, and a pork burger

67% minimum pig meat.

The percentages take a tumble when it comes to economy or "value" burger products.

An economy beefburger must contain 47% meat, a chicken burger 41% and a pork burger 50% pig meat.

Under European law, the term "meat" is defined as "skeletal

muscle with naturally included or adherent fat and connective tissue"

which has not been mechanically stripped from the carcass.

Any meat that has been pressure-blasted from the carcass must

be listed separately as MRM (mechanically removed) or MSM (mechanically

stripped) meat. MRM meat or paste can in theory be used in economy

burgers but has to be listed as a separate ingredient.

Writing in the Times,  food critic Giles Coren bemoaned

the public's lack of knowledge about what is in their food. "What on

earth did you think they put in them? Prime cuts of delicious

free-range, organic, rare breed, heritage beef, grass-fed,

Eton-educated, humanely slaughtered, dry-aged [beef], hand-ground by

fairies...?"

At times like this I am glad I moved here !!

[Hoddy]

I think you're barking up the wrong tree Racer.

It is true that some people will be horrified that they have been eating horse when they don't want to. Incidentally, and much more worryingly for Jew and Moslems is the fact that they have been unwittingly eating pork.

For my part I don't have a problem with eating any of the three. What makes me angry though is the misleading labelling and the fact that this was discovered by the Irish checking authorities and not by the British ones who apparently have not been testing on this aspect at all.

If some companies have been breaking the law about what is in these burgers in regard to which animal the meat came from, how can we be sure that they meat they have been using is fit for human consumption at all ?

What about the beloved British pies ? I don't eat beefburgers, but I don't feel that I can trust any label now. I think that is the point not whether we have been eating dear old dobbin or not.

Hoddy

[woolybanana]

Agreed Hoddy, but Muslims and Jews are only enjoined not to eat pork knowingly. Mistakes or fraud do not count.

[Hoddy]

True, but I was imagining that their reaction would be the same as that of some Hindu friends of mine when they discovered that the packet of Nice biscuits we were tucking into had butter in them.

Hoddy

[woolybanana]

Well, they could have asked!

[Hoddy]

We were in the back room of their corner shop ! One of them read the label to try to discover why they were so delicious.

Hoddy

[NormanH]

I think that their  burgers have given me a cold, they've left me feeling a little hoarse

[Alan Zoff]

From Findus website:

Welcome to the home of Findus

For over 50 years, Findus has stood as one of Britain's best loved names in food. Using only the best ingredients and a generous pinch of imagination in our recipes, we'll help you prepare great tasting and effortlessly good food straight from your freezer.

 

Imagination was apparently a former Derby winner.

[Quillan]

Yep and guess where all the 'contaminated' lasagnas come from, France.

[Alan Zoff]

Perhaps that should have read "Prix de l'Arc" winner

[idun]

Surely hindus eat butter? I see clarified butter mentioned on many of my curry recipes. The cow doesn't get killed to get the milk.

Cheval lasagne. Well I frankly wouldn't care if I had eaten it as long as the meat is from a healthy beast. I would prefer to know what is in my food though.

Best thing for us all is to make our own food, and buy our meat from a reputable butcher..... then we know what is in it.

[Hoddy]

The last worry seems to be, as I said further up the thread, whether or not these animals are fit for human consumption. People have mentioned racehorses but they are commonly given 'bute' which is supposed to render them unfit for humans.

I've often wondered why we British don't eat meat. It's not some recent fad; if you look at descriptions of feasts in history we never really have. In Victorian times in particularly when there were so many horses we still didn't eat them although small amounts were eaten during the war.

Are there any other countries where they aren't eaten ?

Hoddy

[Ivor Nidea]

Well if I see any meat products advertised as "Award Winning" I shall be asking exactly which award it received.

Is it just my perception or are there more younger men going bald nowadays than there were 50 years ago? And are there a lot more "gay" people about nowadays than the ones that were referred to as "nancy boys" years ago? And another thing...have man boobs always existed?

[just john]

[quote user="Ivor Nidea"] Well if I see any meat products advertised as "Award Winning" I shall be asking exactly which award it received.

Is it just my perception or are there more younger men going bald nowadays than there were 50 years ago? And are there a lot more "gay" people about nowadays than the ones that were referred to as "nancy boys" years ago? And another thing...have man boobs always existed? [/quote]

I'd say so, . . . in the mane [:P]

 

[Alan Zoff]

It's probably too much to hope, as people tend to have short memories, especially when tempted by "bargain" prices and supermarket offers.  But it would be nice to think that a result of this would be that a lot more of us would avoid processed foods and would think more about what we are eating.

We cut out shop-bought burgers, etc some time ago and try to use fresh ingredients so we don't have to rely on what it says - or doesn't say - on packaging. Buying meat from the local butcher would be more expensive if we ate the same quantities that we were buying as processed meals but overall we spend about the same now but eat a little less meat. It tastes better, we enjoy cooking, and I am sure we are healthier for it.

Nothing really to do with horse meat - more to do with avoiding bone scrapings described as meat, salts and flavourings to disguise the rubbish, and a list of E numbers. Not to mention the appalling conditions in which a lot of the animals have been raised to provide cheap processed food.

[Quillan]

[quote user="idun"]Surely hindus eat butter? I see clarified butter mentioned on many of my curry recipes. The cow doesn't get killed to get the milk.

Cheval lasagne. Well I frankly wouldn't care if I had eaten it as long as the meat is from a healthy beast. I would prefer to know what is in my food though.

Best thing for us all is to make our own food, and buy our meat from a reputable butcher..... then we know what is in it.

[/quote]

I like cows and I think every immigrant to the UK should be given one for free.

[Alan Zoff]

or a pig

[Quillan]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]or a pig[/quote]

No cows are better after the BSE outbreak years ago.

[nomoss]

Bloke on TV just said that Findus is a brand that was once respected, but has changed hands so many times that it's hard to remember who owns it.

He said in so many words that it is now such a rubbish brand that its image can't really be damaged [:D]

 

[Frederick]

 Today  I was informed we eat no more processed meals like lasagne  by Findus or anybody else   It would appear if the cow is not mooing  outside my front door beef is off the menu  !   When it comes to horses in the food chain .  I do not know of any horses that are reared for the table  Perhaps some are ?   As beef is from a source that is tagged and followed from birth to slaughter  everything that happens in the animals life is recorded and  records are  available for inspection .  Do all  horses have papers  on which by law any drugs given have to be recorded ? I understand from the papers that. the drug Bute is heavily used by horse owners and an animal having been injected with it is not fit for human consumption .  Another EU Scam Passing horse off as beef that appears to be years old that needs shutting down.to add to the list like the antifreeze in Italian wine and the Bulls blood in the French red wine that had to be dealt with.