One article I read about the horsemeat showing up in Burger King burgers in the UK came from Poland
________________________________ From: Ann <awoelfleba...@yahoo.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, February 9, 2013 12:51 PM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: A question for Buck and Ann and other horse people --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb wrote: > > I doubt you've even heard of it in the US unless you read > the UK version of Huffington Post or some other British > rags, but one of the big scandals there right now is the > discovery of...uh...unexpected meats in meat dishes and > even in hamburger. > > It started with the discovery that a LOT of supermarket > and institutional hamburger was part horsemeat. Then they > discovered that many of the prepared meat products sold > by widespread supermarket chains such as Aldi not only > contained horsemeat, but were 100% horsemeat. > > While I know that this very subject may be...uh...dis- > tasteful for vegetarians, what I find myself wondering > in all this furor is *why* meat packers and sellers > would do such a thing. Is horsemeat that much cheaper > than beef? Where would horsemeat come from? Who would > be profiting from selling it? And where did the horses > rendered into meat products come from -- it's not as > if people were raising horses *as* meat animals? > > Is it? > > What *happens* when one of the horses that you care for > and love kicks the...uh...feed bucket? Now that I think > of it, there *have* to be companies, vets, or whatever > you can turn to in such situations, right? > > I'm just curious about this whole thing... Yes, I heard about it, maybe because I was just in England. It is already a well-known fact that the French are big eaters of horse meat but I guess the Brits are much more sensitive as they are from a distinctly horsey loving culture so this would be a big deal for them, especially if it was mislabeled. This might be a relevant article to check out: http://www.forbes.com/sites/vickeryeckhoff/2012/06/18/how-safe-is-that-horse-meat/ Horsemeat is worth so much on the hoof, just like any other meat, be it cow, pig etc. There are horse auctions where unwanted horses are brought to be inevitably bought by the meat man and he will pay so much per pound. So, for example, a typical horse might weigh 1000 lbs and the meat guy could probably buy this animal for $500. Horses that reach a point where they have to be put down because of old age, injury or sickness are usually done so with a massive injection of drugs. This obviously would render the meat inedible. Also, most horses have had lots of vaccinations, medications etc. throughout their lifetime and this would also not be the best meat to be eating. You could always shoot the horse in the head, which I believe is the most humane way to put a horse down as long as you really know what you are doing, and this could then allow for the meat to be consumed fairly risk free. I personally don't think horse meat is any more of a no no to eat than any other creature but I doubt I would eat any that I had owned. And since I only eat chicken and fish I am unlikely to eat any other horses either, at least knowingly. >
