# Horsemeat found in beef burgers on sale in UK and Ireland



## Northerner (Jan 15, 2013)

Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers being sold in UK and Irish supermarkets, the Republic of Ireland's food safety authority has said.

The FSAI said the meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire.

The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, said there was no risk to the public.

However, he added that eating horsemeat "was not in Irish culture".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21034942

'Horse, chips and beans, please!'


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## Pumper_Sue (Jan 15, 2013)

Horsemeat is eaten quite a lot abroad. Can't see the problem myself.


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## Northerner (Jan 15, 2013)

Pumper_Sue said:


> Horsemeat is eaten quite a lot abroad. Can't see the problem myself.



I know, isn't it funny - it sounds so alien here!


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## HOBIE (Jan 15, 2013)

Ney lad !   Macky Ds  Horse burgers ?  I havnt seen them on menu


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## Sazzaroo (Jan 15, 2013)

_There is no problem if you are wishing to eat "horseburgers" no I agree but if people are of the expectation they are buying and eating "Beefburgers" then I think it may be a problem to them really 

Germany and other counties they do eat horse and guess it's each to their own but I'm just pleased I don't eat processed food now. Last year I do remember us having ostrich burgers and kangaroo burgers and enjoyed them just tried not to think about Skippy too much!_


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## trophywench (Jan 15, 2013)

Chevalburger stands in France years ago.

More expensive than boeuf though these days.  Hadn't seen any in butchers or supermarches in the last oooh, 15 years or more - but last year saw it in about 2 or 3 shops.

Cos I happened to say Wow - look at the price of this - oh - horsemeat ! LOL


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## Vicsetter (Jan 16, 2013)

I don't see how the FSAI can say, no risk to the public.  You do have to ask how it got into the burger if they don't slaughter horses for human consumption in Ireland or Yorkshire where is the meat from?  All our meat is supposed to be traceable to source (unlike on the continent).


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## Northerner (Jan 16, 2013)

Vicsetter said:


> I don't see how the FSAI can say, no risk to the public.  You do have to ask how it got into the burger if they don't slaughter horses for human consumption in Ireland or Yorkshire where is the meat from?  All our meat is supposed to be traceable to source (unlike on the continent).



That is an excellent point Vic. Also, 29% in the Tesco burger is a very significant amount - there must have been a very large quantity of horsemeat going into the mix


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## Pumper_Sue (Jan 16, 2013)

Vicsetter said:


> I don't see how the FSAI can say, no risk to the public.  You do have to ask how it got into the burger if they don't slaughter horses for human consumption in Ireland or Yorkshire where is the meat from?  All our meat is supposed to be traceable to source (unlike on the continent).



Horses are slaughtered for meat in the UK and Ireland. When you have a horse you are supposed to have a horse passport for it from the age of about four months old(may be six months) You as an owner have to sign to say horse will not go in the human meat chain or you sign to say it will at the end of it's life.
Depending on what section you sign depends on what drugs a vet can prescribe.
You also have to make sure of the last date the horse was wormed before the horse can be used for human consumption. It's one heck of a long time compared to cattle and sheep.
The persons horse which is put down is pd about ?1 per killo for good quality meat (young) the price then goes down per killo. I'm talking prices of 3 years ago though so no idea what they are now.

I learnt all this due to having the misfortune of having to have one of my home bred youngsters put down.
Due to a field accident (playing silly B's) he skidded on the wet grass lost his footing and slid into a gate post at speed end result was a head injury which resulted in a brain tumour.
From a very big 17hh cuddly baby he turned into an unpredictable dangerous horse scared of his own shadow. (Dangerous) So after 3 vet opinions it was decided the only and kindest option was to put him to sleep. Due to his unpredictable nature no one could put a needle in him to give a lethel injection, he couldn't be shot on the premises either due to no gaurantee he could be put down instantly due to his condition.
So the vets kindly arranged for him to be taken in a specialist horse box to be put down.
Each and everyone involved in his care were fantastic and I couldn't ask for more.
Personally I wouldn't eat horse meat but am thankfull for the valuable service provided by the abatoir concerned.


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## StephenM (Jan 16, 2013)

Vicsetter said:


> I don't see how the FSAI can say, no risk to the public.  You do have to ask how it got into the burger if they don't slaughter horses for human consumption in Ireland or Yorkshire where is the meat from?  All our meat is supposed to be traceable to source (unlike on the continent).



Continent is too all embracing. I would say standards of sausage and cold meat production are higher in former Western Europe than the UK. I suspect the issue is maximising profit more than anything else!


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## DeusXM (Jan 16, 2013)

> I would say standards of sausage and cold meat production are higher in former Western Europe than the UK.



Not true, at least from a welfare point. British pig farmers have been at a significant disadvantage to their continental counterparts for at least 20 years because the UK has much higher standards for how pigs are farmed compared to the rest of Europe. There have been moves for the rest of the EU to adopt the UK standard which has been vigorously opposed by most countries because it will significantly increase costs and make them less competitive against British pork.

I'm not really bothered about what meat is in my burgers (look, I eat doner kebabs so I can't suddenly become fussy!). However, the report also points out that pork was found in a lot of beefburgers too. Pork is forbidden to those on kosher and halal diets, and horsemeat is forbidden on kosher too - not sure about halal but given they are very similar, I would hazard a guess that it is. This isn't fair on those who are trying to comply with their cultural dietary laws.


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## Vicsetter (Jan 16, 2013)

DeusXM said:


> Not true, at least from a welfare point. British pig farmers have been at a significant disadvantage to their continental counterparts for at least 20 years because the UK has much higher standards for how pigs are farmed compared to the rest of Europe. There have been moves for the rest of the EU to adopt the UK standard which has been vigorously opposed by most countries because it will significantly increase costs and make them less competitive against British pork.
> 
> I'm not really bothered about what meat is in my burgers (look, I eat doner kebabs so I can't suddenly become fussy!). However, the report also points out that pork was found in a lot of beefburgers too. Pork is forbidden to those on kosher and halal diets, and horsemeat is forbidden on kosher too - not sure about halal but given they are very similar, I would hazard a guess that it is. This isn't fair on those who are trying to comply with their cultural dietary laws.



It would have to be Halal horsemeat to be allowed.  Halal and Kosher meat has to be drained of blood amongst other things so it is not very likely to have happened here, although not knowing the source you don't know how it was slaughtered.


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## Vicsetter (Jan 16, 2013)

StephenM said:


> Continent is too all embracing. I would say standards of sausage and cold meat production are higher in former Western Europe than the UK. I suspect the issue is maximising profit more than anything else!


I used the word 'continent' because a) thats where the meat is thought to have come from and b) to distinguish it from the UK.  I don't know what you mean by 'the former Western Europe'  If the UK is not in Western Europe where is it?


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## Vicsetter (Jan 16, 2013)

Just had a thought, maybe as the Tesco Everyday Value burgers were 27% horsemeat, they could be re-labelled as Premium Equine Burgers at twice the price


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## Northerner (Jan 16, 2013)

Apparently, the investigation came about because a lot of people complained of getting the trots after eating them...


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## Pumper_Sue (Jan 16, 2013)

Northerner said:


> Apparently, the investigation came about because a lot of people complained of getting the trots after eating them...



That's fine as long as it not end up as a gallop 

Hopefully they will end up in a stable condition


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## DeusXM (Jan 16, 2013)

> It would have to be Halal horsemeat to be allowed. Halal and Kosher meat has to be drained of blood amongst other things so it is not very likely to have happened here, although not knowing the source you don't know how it was slaughtered.



Even if it was halal slaughtered, I'm not sure it could still be allowed. I know kosher laws forbid the eating of anything without cloven hooves, can't recall if it's the same for halal.

I wonder if it's just burgers though. What about frozen mince? That would seem to be a prime candidate for being a meaty pick 'n' mix.


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## mcdonagh47 (Jan 16, 2013)

Northerner said:


> Apparently, the investigation came about because a lot of people complained of getting the trots after eating them...



Quite by chance we had Tesco "beefburgers" the other night.
The missus said what do you want on them ?
I said I'll have a fiver each way.


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## Northerner (Jan 16, 2013)




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## margie (Jan 16, 2013)

On a more serious note they were saying on the news tonight that horse meat is generally leaner than beef.  On the other side of the coin since 2010 DEFRA have the responsibility to ensure food is as described and that has been contratced out to local councils.

Oh and the fact that horse wasn't picked up here was that no one thought it was contaminating food so one was checking for it....


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## Donald (Jan 16, 2013)

got this from the FSA (Food Standards Agency)


http://links.govdelivery.com/track?...ov.uk/news-updates/news/2013/jan/horse-update

Also this

http://www.fsai.ie/news_centre/press_releases/horseDNA15012013.html


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## am64 (Jan 16, 2013)

Northerner said:


>



haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaheeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaa !!


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## Starfire (Jan 16, 2013)

Nothing wrong with horse meat as a food source - the problem is these get rich con men dont want you to have a choice.


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## mcdonagh47 (Jan 17, 2013)

Vicsetter said:


> I don't see how the FSAI can say, no risk to the public.  You do have to ask how it got into the burger if they don't slaughter horses for human consumption in Ireland or Yorkshire where is the meat from?  All our meat is supposed to be traceable to source (unlike on the continent).



it turns out that the meat is from Spain and the Netherlands and is only processed in the UK and Ireland.Two of the meat processing plants concerned are owned by a chap known as "Dirty Larry" in Ireland after previous scandals.


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