I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse-lasagne!

[robot slipper]

In the wake of the recent horsemeat-burger scandal, it has now been found that some frozen Findus lasagnes in the UK are 100% horsemeat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21375594

My feeling on this is that it is not ok to package something as beef and it's actually horse. It's obviously being done on the sly by the suppliers, so who knows what condition it's been in and what drugs the horses might have been taking which people could now be eating. What are people's thoughts on this? Should the companies have legal action against them for not monitoring their suppliers properly? And what are your thoughts on horse-meat in general?

I know I feel slightly grossed out now, as I am usually lazy on the weekends and eat frozen ready meals, so who knows what is actually in them. Then again, I am partial to the occasional chicken nugget, and those probably don't have much chicken in them either.

And how many horse-meat related jokes have you heard on the radio or read in the news today? I've heard a LOT.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Frankly, I wish the English speaking world would just hurry up and get over its horsemeat = bad taboo. Although mislabeling your product is still a scummy thing to do.

 

[Genocidicles]

Mislabelling the product is bad and all, but I wish my fellow countrymen would shut the hell up.

It's goddamn horsemeat... People eat it all the time.

The media has been banging on about this like people were eating burgers or lasagne made out of aborted rat foetuses. It's ridiculous.

 

[DoPo]

Frankly, I wish the English speaking world would just hurry up and get over its horsemeat = bad taboo.

I don't even know why that is. I don't really make a habit of eating horses but I won't turn them down either

Although mislabeling your product is still a scummy thing to do.

That's correct, though. If I'll be eating a horse, I'd prefer to be labelled as one. It's different meat than beef or pork and shouldn't be prepared the same way or used with the same spices/whatever as them. I've heard it's really close to deer meat, though.

 

[Muspelheim]

<--- Yes, making the folowing statement ridiculously ironic

I do agree, I wonder why horse meat is such a taboo. Sure, they're lovely animals, but they're still made of food. Why draw the line there, of all places?

It's a question of labeling. I don't mind horse meat, I'm just not kind of getting it as a surprise. I don't eat lasange very often, though, but Christ knows what's in their fish sticks.

Fun fact; Findus is a very common name for housecats. Make of that what you will...

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I think the taboo comes about because we see horses more as pets than as livestock. That's why we don't like the idea of eating cat or dog either. Eating family members is frowned upon.

On that note, here is a related editorial from the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/08/no-horsemeat-please-british

 

[sky14kemea]

Mmmmm, horse meat. Tasty tasty protein.

I did see a thing on TV about those lasagnes, actually! Some people sent in funny pictures to the One Show (I think it was the One Show, I wasn't paying full attention).

I once ate a Wild Boar burger, and that was pretty much the same as a beef burger, IMO. Those weird animal burgers seem popular at markets and stuff now, so it probably won't be long till we get a horse burger. =P

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I wonder if there would have been as much of a shitstorm if it wasn't horsemeat but something like, say, Pork or Lamb.
I mean there'd be a shitstorm nonetheless since the food companies lied about what ingredients are going into their products but I'm wondering if all the fuss is being made because of the lies or because of the horse.

On a (somewhat) related note, This feels appropriate to share.

 

[Deadlock Radium]

I feel this is unappropriate:

Spoiler

 

[SckizoBoy]

When I was a student, living on a budget, I bought a 20 pack of... ValuBurgers. And I would've been delighted to find out that it contained something as wholesome as 30 percent horsemeat.

Eh... I really don't get what the big deal is, other than the misadvertising. I've eaten horse, aside from being a bit on the tough side, I quite like it.

 

[Epic Bear Man]

Last time I ate at Burger King, I came out feeling a bit hoarse. ):

There's my input. I don't really have anything against eating horses, but then again I've never tried it. Nonetheless though, they shouldn't lie, but it shouldn't necessarily be illegal to eat a horse.

 

[Me55enger]

The doctor told me I should watch what I eat. So I booked tickets to the Grand National.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I feel this is unappropriate:

Spoiler

Thank you sir, for making me laugh for a good 10 minutes straight!

 

[Rawne1980]

I'll start panicking when I they start making Cat Kebabs round here .... Horse meat I can live with.

 

[Crenelate]

The problem is the media have been focusing too much on the "horse meat being taboo" bit and not on the "we have no idea where this meat came from or how it got into the system" bit.

I wouldn't want to eat horse myself but plenty of cultures do so obviously horse in itself isn't dangerous in any way. HOWEVER, the products containing horse meat are pretty low quality (processed meals), the meat that goes into them in pretty low quality. Horses are expensive animals to raise even as livestock, more so than cattle, and horse meat is generally more expensive due to the more niche consumption. The horse that goes into these processed foods will definitely not be the same horse that you would get a decent steak from. For all the FDA knows it could be a dead nag the meat van found on the side of the road. Saying its safe for human consumption is ridiculous when they don't know the origin.

Combined with the fact that people have basically been defrauded as the product is obviously not as advertised, this is actually kind of important to sort out. However, I agree they need to tone down on the whole horses being our besty friends. This is not the issue.

 

[RobDaBank]

If you think that's bad, some of their flooring is found to have lamb-in-it...

 

[Crenelate]

Oh, and it would be awesome if this resulted in more support for British Farmers and fewer European imports, but I don't know much about economics, so whatevs.

 

[Angie7F]

I cant seem to say this enough, but horse meat is a delicacy in Japan.
I would be disturbed at the fact that it was horse meat when I thought it was beef, but it is not the horse part that grosses me out.
It is the labeling.

Same way i wouldnt want to be eating whales when i thought it was tuna.

But then again, i never though SPAM was entirely good beef...

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Some people sent in funny pictures to the One Show.

What, like... small horse sculptures made of lasagne? Because I'm failing to see how else a picture of lasagne can be 'funny', and related to the topic at hand.
That, or you English have a weird sense of humour. "Haha. It is a picture of ordinary lasagne, but it isn't ordinary, because it has horse in it! Hilarious!"

 

[Artina89]

A lot of it is that it isn't advertised as "horse meat", it has "beef" lasagne on the box, as well as the FSA (Food standards agency) are worried about any veterinary pharmaceuticals that could have been given to the horse, the main concern being phenylbutazone, or "bute", which is an NSAID (nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drug) administered for short term treatment of pain and fever, which is commonly given to horses. Here is the section of the article that I am referring to:

"We have no evidence to suggest that this is a food safety risk,? the FSA said. But the agency confirmed tests have been ordered on the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone.

It added that animals treated with ?bute? are not allowed to enter the food chain ?as it may pose a risk to human health?."

Here is the article this passage is taken from: http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/07/some-findus-beef-lasagne-meals-100-horse-meat-3398466/.

I am not too picky what I eat, to be honest with you, and my dad had a beef Findus crispy pancake and he enjoyed it quite a bit.