For me, the problem is not so much that there's horse meat on the menu, although I'm not too keen on the idea, but rather more the fact that these horses may not have been fit for human consumption, not having been tested for any illnesses or drugs. Mad horse disease, anyone?
The trouble nowadays is that there are so many different ways to make meat look plumper/darker/lighter/tastier that you've got little or no chance of identifying what you're about to eat. The idea of bulking up a dish with horse meat doesn't bother me in the slightest; it's how they're gonna bulk it up now that worries me.
The fact that the meat in the food turns out to be horse instead of cow is not in itself the worrying bit. Every cow is numbered, every carcass is numbered, and every box of meat pies and lasagnas is numbered - there is a system supposed to keep track, and an audit trail in case BSE, foot & mouth, E.coli, or any other contamination is found anywhere in the food chain. But if horses can get into the process, it must surely follow that contaminated meat could get in and not be recorded properly. That's the worrying part. The monitoring system needs to be tightened up a bit, I think. This whole system is just one part of the "EU red tape" that some people are always saying they want to abolish, by the way.
Well it does, sort of, at least we are aware of it now, albeit after the horse has left the stable, so to speak.
It's clearly deperately needed, and we all need it to work well. If it doesn't work well enough it needs to be fixed. So is that any reason for abolishing it, and leaving a free-for-all?
What if you like horse meat? :wink: Anyway Findus can export their products to France and Belgium and it'd be welcome there :biggrin:
Can I point out that I'm sure the likes of myself and Ducbird never thought we would end up " single parents" . We both work and don't sit on out arses watching Jeremy Kyle all day . I've had jobs since age 13 .. My boys dad does pay maintenance . Sadly there are some right gits who do runners and don't help support the child that is half theirs. Male and female il add. Sadly there are some who get away with I can't ever work again til my child is 16 as he needs me to be home !! Bullshit .. We have to work to fit in with our kids and go without. Least we bother to. My Dad cleared off and emptied our house when I was tiny and very sick . Food and all.. My Mum worked her arse off to keep our house and feed me . I'd love to be in a happy place enjoying life with a significant other .. But hey us single mums will bleed you dry of money by getting you to shell out to raise a kid that's not yours We are not all scroungers .. Marriages and relationships fail .. Myself and Viv are not the sort who sit on our arses .. And have 6 kids by different dads and don't work cause we can't be bothered, Sorry but I hate that kind of stigma .. Because its not the case we work and pay taxes and raise our kids. We are also cool birds as we ride Ducatis so there !
Some mums don't even put the fathers name on the birth cert, as to get an allocation of a council property quicker. There's your emmaculate conception right there.
