Those are the issues, I fear that this might open up a whole can of worms (literally) about what landfill gets ground up and added to cheap processed foodstuff. No such thing as a free lunch!

Mange tout...

How many findus/Tesco/Lidl/ products were consumed without consumer complaint before DNA tests proved 100% horsemeat?.

That is not the issue. Firstly, if I want beef I want something that comes from an animal that mooed before it died. A bit like buying a parrot...

Second, there are checks on the fitness of a carcass for human consumption including what it has been fed on/treated with before it died. We know pretty much they are reliable for the meat we traditionally eat - which includes the exotic meats. We are wise to be cautious about imposter meat.

Third, there is the value question. Some cuts and origins of meat are cheaper than others. If it were to be ok to replace the stated meat with something cheaper then the customer is ripped off.

Last, for some it is important that the meat eaten is not from particular animals.

There is much more to this than just the impact on consumer health

Well it must be one very large vat to contain all the horse meat that has ended up in all the numerous products that has been detected so far. Not only that it has been reported that this may go back as far as last year? So not really a case of simple error really eh?
Also remember that the tests carried out so far was only for horse meat. No tests have been carried out for other types of meat that should have been beef. Who knows what other meats may have been added as well that have not been tested for?

I bet you would soon be complaining if you were served a pint of something in a pub that was inferior, and not what you asked for, and less than half the price you were charged for?

Tend to agree. There used to be a saying, let the buyer beware. The price of most of the products affected is so low there had to be something wrong. The grocer isn't likely to be taking a hit on his profit to be nice; we get what we pay for!

It seems that the main source of the horsemeat is Romania where the price of that meat has dropped because of a ban on horse and carts on the roads.
Welcome to the EU Romania.
....And also, so much for the country which gave us Dracula

I bought a parrot once and there was no mooing involved - what are you getting at?

Norwegian blue?

Someone's missed the point completely.


Ah, a chance to bash 'johnny foreigner'. Too good to miss eh? Sadly, it seems most of these horses were in fact from Ireland, and were imported given false documents /horse passports and then sold on. 70,000 in all.

Radio 4 USPCA investigation.Starts at 04.22

The source is still being investigated. There is no concrete proof of anything yet. And is the Republic of Ireland any less a foreign country than Romania?

I think this whole sorry episode is a result of an ever growing population needing to be fed with cheap food from an overstretched planet!
As the population of the planet ever increases the need to make available food stretch further will increase and this problem will not be the last of it's kind.
Not everyone can afford to shop at M&S and Waitrose!

You don't need to use M&S or Waitrose - just some common sense. Decent food is easily obtained at any supermarket; but you might have to do a little preparation. Don't just use preprepared readi meals - particularly those with exotic sounding names! Some of the most expensive meals I've had served turned out to be awful slop; when a baked spud with some cheese on top would have been quicker, cheaper and far more tasty.

One batch of Findus lasagne. Not every frozen beef product. And horse meat isn't cheaper than beef.


And yes I would not be happy if I ordered X & got Y, but I would not assume it was some massive conspiracy to defraud.

Have you actually done a price comparison, or is this just something you've picked up from a third party? A sign I saw outside Waitrose on Sunday said all their branded goods are the same price as Tesco. Staple foods like milk are the same price as anywhere else. Sure, there are some luxury ranges for those that can afford them, but what's wrong with that?

The cheapest soup in Waitrose is about 5 times the price of the that in Sainsburys.

LOL, the irony!

...and the moral is don't trust what anyone tells you. In food terms, the less sophisticated the better!

Yes and no.

Not only Findus lasagne - Moussaka, Cottage pie, and various other ready meals and certainly not only Findus,
Horse meat is certainly cheaper in Romania than beef where it is suspected the meat originated from at the moment.
As the saying goes, watch this space. If Governments do not try to cover this up, as it involves the meat being shipped around Europe including Cyprus, then it has the makings of an international fraud problem.