Valentine's Day horse-meat

The horse on the left, Pintea, lives in happy semi-retirement in Oxfordshire.

The horse on the right, not one of mine, has probably entered the food chain. 

With horse meat selling for 3 Euro/kg and beef selling for five times that, a mislabelled 20 tonne container of horse-meat could yield a profit approaching a quarter of a million Euro. (Let's say £150,000 or $300,000 profit per container.) Or less if it's being passed off for low-quality beef. But still a decent profit. And remember that 'meat products' in Britain can comprise 70% 'filler'. 

Enough said really....

Comments

[Jessica]

disgusting really - and almost looks like the above horses knew there fate (looking at there expressions).
Its an old story though isnt it - one weve known about (living in countries that either consume horse meat, or provide the live product). For me now my hatred of the horse meat consumerism in Italy is more political than anything else, as unlike cattle - we bring most of the horses in from the east(lest the meat start to change color)it needs to travel live from its destination.
If not from the east, its the mafia run butcheries that steal private horses, or illegially cull racehorses in horrific illegal butcheries. The only good thing about this fiasco, is that its finally reached the masses.

[lytha]

tonight, again, i confronted the grocery, about what my chances are for buying meat as advertised.

they smile at me but have no argument.

i just say, "we'll see then."

as the news tells us the changes in what we eat.

i wanted to say how lovely that photo is of pintea and "friend". whoever took that photo, applause.

now i'm looking over this laptop into my oven where i've made my husband his favorite dinner: lasagne. with meat i cannot confirm the source of. how pitiful huh?

[White Horse Pilgrim]

I'm trying to remember the occasion of the photo, a wedding most probably hence the decoration of the horses that would have been ridden at the front of the procession.

The whole horse meat industry across Romania was disgusting, the animals being collected by the very dregs of society, gypsies and Romanians whose brutality and ignorance were almost unbelievable. There are photos from the war showing such scum driving people into cattle trucks too - a vicious streak present through history needs to be excised. But out there it's easier to deny that a problem exists, just like in Italy I suppose.

I only buy meat from a nearby farm now. I can see the animals in the fields and I can talk to the man who kills and butchers them. Of course that meat costs several times more than the stuff in the supermarkets. But then as someone commented if one cooks supermarket meat see how much water comes out, so actually relatively speaking good quality meat is less expensive per kilo than we might think.

[Shirley]

Perhaps this will boost the sales of meat directly from the farms, or is that not allowed in England?

[White Horse Pilgrim]

I only buy meat directly from the farmer. It's allowed so long as he meets the same hygiene regulations as a regular butcher or shopkeeper. The farmer told me today that his sales have gone up.

[Joanne]

Poor sweet things! I can't bear to think of how they are mistreated. What a beautiful picture!