Horse burgers

[asperity]

I'm sure Lt Kije will ignore this elephant in the room, but food standards are an EU competence and, as such, the presence of horse meat in supposed beefburgers is down to the failure of EU procedures. Just saying

[Lt Kije]

I think you will find Asp it was the Irish that found the problem, The UK food agency were not even looking for it, Down to our government really. Nice try though. 

 

Are you going for throw enough mud and some will stick approach 

[Adam]

What I want to know is, if horsemeat does not pose a health risk and can be passed off as beef without anyone noticing, why are we not eating it all the time?

[asperity]

The whole of the meat chain, from farm to store, is regulated by EU law, with meat and meat products subject to a regulatory regime which replaced the British system. Under the Single Market rules produce from an EEA member, with paperwork that conforms with EU requirements, cannot be checked at port of entry.
And, without firm evidence of a problem, we are not allowed to check imported meat at the point of sale (or at any point in between, during processing and distribution) on a scale greater than we do meat of domestic origin. This is prohibited under EU law, as discrimination on the ground of nationality.
Therefore, our system is entirely dependent on the good faith and efficiency of EU member states in policing food standards, to make sure that what is in the boxes is what is on the EU-regulated label. This system will never work without the back-up of routine regulatory spot-checks, with special emphasis on imported goods, which are most likely to be substandard. That deterrent effect is lacking in the current system – the crooks know there will never be any checks until it is too late.
But, not only are we not allowed to do this, we are not allowed to know that we are not allowed to do this. The FSA is utterly silent on the root cause of the problem. But this, as with the breast implants, and the hip-joint replacements, is another good example of an EU regulatory failure. Another good reason to dump the EUSSR.

 

Adam, the problem isn't the horsemeat per se, but rather the fact that horsemeat has been allowed to get into the chain showing that sub-standard meat could also have been introduced unnoticed.

[Bill]

Adam

 

I think with meat and particularly with processed meat such as a lasagne, it very difficult to tell just what you’re eating but it’s not a case of whether it does you any harm or not, it’s more what we deem as an acceptable food. We could put human flesh in there for example and it probably wouldn’t do us any harm but the thought of that would be revolting and against everything we’ve ever believed in. 

 

The problems more widespread than you’d think, I went to B&Q yesterday for some floor stuff and they asked me if I wanted lamb in it? 

 

Bill

[Bazj]

Don't know what the problem is....

 

http://www.exoticmeats.co.uk/horse-burgers.html

[asperity]

As I said above it isn't the horsemeat per se that is the problem, but the fact that it got through the EU supposedly stringent checks unnoticed. If horsemeat can get through then what else is being passed off as prime beef?

[asperity]

Lt Kije, the only way you can blame our government for this is for allowing the EU to take over the food standard competency in the first place. If we weren't in this overpriced club then our own FSA would have some teeth and be able to check meat that is being imported, but EU law takes precedence and what they say goes. Our government is only allowed to discuss such weighty matters as whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to marry each other, not food safety.

[Peter T]

Waiting for some one in Gov. to say that we have learned from this.

I wonder what other foods don't do what they say on the tin? To me, that is the issue.

[Lt Kije]

It is up to the individual Countries to decide what they will test for Asp, hence Ireland found it as they were looking for it, the UK did not as they were not testing for it.

 

True or false ?

[Bazj]

Kije... on that link above that I posted; they do Ostrich meat..... thought you may like to try some!!!

[Lt Kije]

How come Ireland which is in the EU Country found it, they were testing for it.

 

How come the UK did not, They were not testing for it.

 

The problem, if you really want to address it, is in the food long food chain. The UK even if it was outside the EU would get their meat from who ever is cheapest, and in that they would be buying their meat from similar places. Yes it is easy to bash the EU, but it does not make it right.

 

Why are you not asking why the UK were not testing for it?, and would they have been testing for it if they were not in the EU?

[asperity]

We weren't testing for it because the EU has taken over that role, and we are supposed to accept that they are doing it properly, which obviously they aren't. What would be the point of duplication? I don't know why Ireland tested for it, perhaps they had been given a tip-off that there was this problem. I can't understand why you keep defending the EU when it is obviously not fit for purpose on so many levels. At least if it's our own government that cocks things up we have the option of voting against them at the next election. With the EU we don't have that option, we are stuck with them.

[Lt Kije]

No they have not taken over the roll, we have our own food standards agency, Our food standards agency tends to test for food poisoning, not what the product is made of.

 

Let me get this right then Asp, you are saying that if the UK had not been in the EU, we would have found the horse meat, even though we were not looking for it. You work in the supply chain, you know how it works. Companies buy from who ever is cheapest. We would probably been buying from the same suppliers if we had not been in the EU as well you know, if you need someone to blame, you should be looking at our own agency. But to be fair on them they are now saying organised crime were probably involved.

 

But the fact remains Asp, The UK food standards Agency were not looking for it, so in or out of the EU, we would not have found the horse meat.

[asperity]

Rubbish.

[observer]

The pressure for this fiasco has originated with the s/markets (and possibly with customers), who keep driving down the price of their product sourcing, to the point where suppliers will end up using scams (like horse and pig meat) to make their product cheaper and thus competative. This is possibly made easier, by the reductions in our own FSA and LA inspection regimes due to cuts and the non-existence of comparable food standards in some EU countries, from where meat is being sourced.

[Lt Kije]

What's rubbish?

Our food standards Agency not looking for it?

The food supply chain?

Or your cheap mud throwing at the EU?

 

I know which I would go for?

 

 

[Lt Kije]

Some good points Obs, at least you are taking a objective view, unlike Asp who was mud throwing.

[Bazj]

The meat was produced in Ireland - EU country and produced under EU governed standards. It was then sold to other EU countries....

 

It is obviously the EU's fault... just like everything else that blights our country

[Lt Kije]

The meat was produced in Ireland Baz??

 

Well you don't even let facts get in your way, the meat has been traced back to France so far. The problem comes from a rather large chain of supply, something that would not change even if we were outside the EU. The only way to stop that is to make people buy locally produced food. Something Obs to give him credit as advocated for along time.

 

If we were outside the EU, these companies would still be trying to buy their meat very cheaply, So we would have still been buying from the same producers. Read Obs post.

 

To solve the problem, we either pay more and support our local farmers, or we pay more in taxes so we can police the food supply chain far better than we have been doing.

 

[P J]

Good to see that all this negative publicity has not stopped the usual suspect pedalling their hobby horses 

[Cleopatra]

Ireand says the meat filler products containing horse DNA used in beefburgers came from Poland. Of course Poland denies it.

The horsemeat contained in Findus meals is said to have come from Romania via Luxembourg to France.

Comigel, which is a french company sold the finished products to Aldi and findus. The products were made in Luxembourg by another company owned by Comigel.

[Lt Kije]

Such is our food supply chain Cleo,Companies will go anywhere irrelevant of miles to buy cheap meat to put into ready meals

[Bazj]

I fancy having a nice filly-con-carne tonight!!

[Lt Kije]

Good choice Baz, although I think I will be going for Spaghetti Bologneiths