Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:35 PM
Whovian (2,866 posts)
Horse meat discovered in the world's hamburger supply
Just in time for those sitting down to meat loaf and mashed 'taters.
It has been confirmed by international authorities that large portions of horse meat have been found to be intermingled with ground beef used in hamburger. The majority of the contaminated meat was found in Ireland and Great Brittan. The largest grocery store chain in the United Kingdom, Tesco, attempted to apologize to its millions of customers but the damage has already been done and the global demand for meat has already shown a sharp decline in the days after the discovery was made public. Tests reported by CNN.com found that in some instances as much as 29% of a hamburger package contained horse meat. That means that for every ten hamburgers made, three were comprised entirely of horse meat. While horse is the main intrigue and outrage it was not the only foreign meat discovered. A shocking 23 out of 25 packages of hamburger were found to contain traces of pork DNA. You thought you were getting ground beef, and you were actually getting ground beef, pork, and horse. To make matters worse it is a taboo in the Catholic religion to eat horse, which has been ordained by the Vatican for over 1,000 years. Among those of the Jewish and Muslim faiths, it is a spiritual taboo to eat pork. It is not known how long the contamination has been allowed to happen, or how many people's religious beliefs have been violated. http://www.examiner.com/article/horse-meat-discovered-the-world-s-hamburger-supply
|
49 replies, 1639 views
| Author | Time | Post | |
| Whovian | Jan 2013 | OP | |
| jberryhill | Jan 2013 | #1 | |
| Purveyor | Jan 2013 | #7 | |
| RedCappedBandit | Jan 2013 | #43 | |
| MrSlayer | Jan 2013 | #2 | |
| silverweb | Jan 2013 | #3 | |
| RebelOne | Jan 2013 | #48 | |
| Walk away | Jan 2013 | #4 | |
| Whovian | Jan 2013 | #5 | |
| Walk away | Jan 2013 | #38 | |
| siligut | Jan 2013 | #6 | |
| Cleita | Jan 2013 | #22 | |
| Walk away | Jan 2013 | #39 | |
| eppur_se_muova | Jan 2013 | #8 | |
| jberryhill | Jan 2013 | #27 | |
| solara | Jan 2013 | #9 | |
| HappyMe | Jan 2013 | #12 | |
| solara | Jan 2013 | #31 | |
| pinboy3niner | Jan 2013 | #34 | |
| solara | Jan 2013 | #37 | |
| lpbk2713 | Jan 2013 | #10 | |
| nobodyspecial | Jan 2013 | #11 | |
| ZombieHorde | Jan 2013 | #28 | |
| Retrograde | Jan 2013 | #13 | |
| Squinch | Jan 2013 | #14 | |
| Wednesdays | Jan 2013 | #18 | |
| Cerridwen | Jan 2013 | #24 | |
| Retrograde | Jan 2013 | #33 | |
| Cerridwen | Jan 2013 | #47 | |
| KitSileya | Jan 2013 | #46 | |
| malaise | Jan 2013 | #15 | |
| KamaAina | Jan 2013 | #16 | |
| WinkyDink | Jan 2013 | #17 | |
| Separation | Jan 2013 | #19 | |
| pinboy3niner | Jan 2013 | #23 | |
| Kalidurga | Jan 2013 | #20 | |
| jberryhill | Jan 2013 | #26 | |
| Kalidurga | Jan 2013 | #32 | |
| Cleita | Jan 2013 | #21 | |
| DonRedwood | Jan 2013 | #30 | |
| TheManInTheMac | Jan 2013 | #25 | |
| MattBaggins | Jan 2013 | #35 | |
| TheManInTheMac | Jan 2013 | #49 | |
| DonRedwood | Jan 2013 | #29 | |
| Iggo | Jan 2013 | #36 | |
| mrs_p | Jan 2013 | #40 | |
| OldDem2012 | Jan 2013 | #41 | |
| RedCappedBandit | Jan 2013 | #42 | |
| littlemissmartypants | Jan 2013 | #44 | |
| littlemissmartypants | Jan 2013 | #45 |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:38 PM
jberryhill (30,130 posts)
1. The real shocker is that they found any actual meat in it
Response to jberryhill (Reply #1)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:58 PM
Purveyor (13,435 posts)
7. Indeed! +1 eom
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:39 PM
MrSlayer (21,561 posts)
2. That's why you go to the butcher.
|
And never, ever eat fast food burgers.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:41 PM
silverweb (13,071 posts)
3. Glad to be a vegetarian!
|
One side benefit of this episode: "...the global demand for meat has already shown a sharp decline in the days after the discovery was made public."
Makes you wonder what ELSE might be in that burger, doesn't it? |
Response to silverweb (Reply #3)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 08:41 AM
RebelOne (27,002 posts)
48. Same here. Glad I only eat veggie burgers. n/t
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:44 PM
Walk away (4,702 posts)
4. Suddenly Quinoa Burgers are actually sounding edible!
|
|
Response to Walk away (Reply #4)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:47 PM
Whovian (2,866 posts)
5. LOL! I eat chips with a lot of quinoa in them.
|
But the resulting hairy palms are embarrassing.
|
Response to Whovian (Reply #5)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:47 PM
Walk away (4,702 posts)
38. I actualy like quinoa in salads etc but I hate food pretending to be...
|
something it is not!
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 06:52 PM
siligut (11,489 posts)
6. This made the news about 30 yrs ago
|
I wonder if horse meat ever actually stopped being added to beef between then and now.
|
Response to siligut (Reply #6)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:25 PM
Cleita (64,660 posts)
22. DH and I used to go to a French restaurant that had
|
steak au cheval on the menu. I wonder how many Americans who didn't know French ordered it and never knew they were eating Mr. Ed.
|
Response to Cleita (Reply #22)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:48 PM
Walk away (4,702 posts)
39. Wilber! Stop! nt
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:08 PM
eppur_se_muova (20,863 posts)
8. Shocked ... just shocked ...
|
Chopped-up animal parts look pretty much alike, why think any of it is uncontaminated by anything ?
I wonder if they tested for human DNA ? I'm amazed at the implication in the article that somehow the horsemeat and "other" meat were cooked into separate patties ... |
Response to eppur_se_muova (Reply #8)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:02 PM
jberryhill (30,130 posts)
27. Who knows....
|
I suppose next we'll find out that they've been selling baby oil from something other than 100% actual babies. |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:12 PM
solara (2,767 posts)
9. There is a "World Hamburger Supply"?
|
Who knew?
|
Response to solara (Reply #9)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:17 PM
HappyMe (12,464 posts)
12. Yeah, their headquarters is
|
across the street from the World Hamburger Buns Supply.
|
Response to HappyMe (Reply #12)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:16 PM
solara (2,767 posts)
31. Heehee
|
Oh you mean it's near the World Cheese Consortium?
|
Response to solara (Reply #31)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:05 PM
pinboy3niner (28,032 posts)
34. And also near the World Sesame Seed campus
|
Which is just catty-corner from the World Pickle Slicing Subsidiary.
|
Response to pinboy3niner (Reply #34)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:11 PM
solara (2,767 posts)
37. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk
|
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:12 PM
lpbk2713 (23,365 posts)
10. They don't say what portion was roaches, worms, maggots, rats etc.
|
But there's no doubt in my mind they would find some if they were to look. |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:14 PM
nobodyspecial (2,059 posts)
11. If you are going to eat meat, what difference does it make?
|
Why are horses and dogs more sacred than cows and pigs?
|
Response to nobodyspecial (Reply #11)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:04 PM
ZombieHorde (24,094 posts)
28. My subjective list of animals by value.
|
1st: Humans
2nd: Neither human nor mosquito 3rd: Mosquitos 1st is most valuable. |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:20 PM
Retrograde (3,341 posts)
13. Horsemeat is taboo for Catholics?
|
12 years in Catholic schools and they never told me that. Someone should tell the (at least nominally) Catholic French and Italians about this.
Popes have said a lot of things that the Church membership cheerfully ignores - and which have changed over time. This sounds like one of those internet fact-like phrases that gets passed around by people who limit their research to the first Google hits they find without checking primary sources. Anyway, horsemeat is IMHO tastier than cow. |
Response to Retrograde (Reply #13)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:24 PM
Squinch (3,264 posts)
14. Also 12 years in Catholic schools. Never heard that Catholics can't eat horse meat
Response to Retrograde (Reply #13)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:07 PM
Wednesdays (9,269 posts)
18. "Horsemeat is tastier IMHO than cow"
|
Last edited Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:10 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1) When I was about to try a buffalo burger (bison, if you want to be accurate) for the first time, I was afraid it would taste weird or "gamey." I was taken completely by surprise. To me, it tasted something like char-broiled sirloin steak. So, it's something I've enjoyed whenever I could (it's a tad on the expensive side, compared with beef). And bison meat is healthier... I think it has something like one–quarter less fat than beef or pork.
So, yeah. Not all meat is necessarily seafood, poultry, beef, pork, or lamb. There are other things out there. Edit: and they don't all "taste like chicken." |
Response to Retrograde (Reply #13)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:39 PM
Cerridwen (11,924 posts)
24. Pope Gregory III equated it with pagan practices. (2nd edit)
|
Last edited Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:52 PM USA/ET - Edit history (2) As such, well, you know how the church feels about pagans and pagan practices.
A link with some smidge of background: http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=836969 I'm still searching for something pointing to primary sources as so far all the hits I get are tertiary about Pope Gregory. eta: Found this via wiki: Unmentionable Cuisine By Calvin W. Schwabe 1979 Page 157-8 In pre-Christian times, horesemeat eating in norther Europe figured predominently in Teutonic religious ceremonies, particularly those associated with the worship of the god Odin. So much so, in fact, that in A.D. 732 Pope Gregory III began a concerted effort to stop this pagan practice, and it has been said that the Icelandic people specifically were reluctant to embrach Christianity for some time larely over the issue of their giving up horsemeat. In Sweden these many years later, horsemeat still outsells lam and mutton combined. http://books.google.com/books?id=SiBntk9jGmoC&q=horse#v=snippet&q=horse&f=false Still looking... 2nd edit: From US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2034431/ Article from Canadian Veterinary Journal Food avoidances and taboos have historically been based on religion, or have functioned to demonstrate social status differences between individuals and social groupings (18). Although Leviticus is silent on the specific issue of horse (19), in 723, Pope Gregory III indicated that the eating of horses was a ‘filthy and abominable custom’ in his instructions to Boniface, Bishop to the Germans (20). In Ireland, the Canones hibernenses, which date from the 7th century, impose an unusually harsh penance of 4 y on bread and water for the consumption of horsemeat (20). The explanation of this nonbiblically based Canon Law is that the consumption of horsemeat was associated with pre-Christian Celtic and Teutonic religious sacrifice (20,21). The church condemnation of horsemeat consumption was directed to suppressing pagan practices and distinguishing the Christian from the heathen (20,21).
|
Response to Cerridwen (Reply #24)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:01 PM
Retrograde (3,341 posts)
33. And Gregory XVI banned railroads in the Papal States
|
calling them chemins d'enfer, or roads to hell, a play on chemin de fers. As far as I know, Catholics are currently allowed to travel by train. Point is, papal opinion - and even papal decrees - aren't necessarily dogma. Now if the current pope were to speak ex cathedra and declare meat was murder....
(Kudos for bringing up Unmentionable Cuisine: it's one of my favorite cookbooks.) |
Response to Retrograde (Reply #33)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 08:24 AM
Cerridwen (11,924 posts)
47. I was pointing out the source.
|
That was my point.
|
Response to Retrograde (Reply #13)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 04:43 AM
KitSileya (1,605 posts)
46. It originated in the times when pagans sacrificed horses and ate the meat.
|
For example, in Norway it was common to sacrifice horses and eat the meat at blot, the religious ceremonies. At any other times, you didn't eat horse meat, so if a Christian ate it, it automatically meant that he or she participated in pagan ceremonies, which of course Christians weren't supposed to do. The emphasis on Catholics in the article comes from the fact that Protestants don't have a history that goes back to these times, and therefore discarded this rule when they broke from the Catholic Church.
These days, it is not uncommon for Norwegians to eat horse meat in the form of slices of the traditional mutton sausages we put on sandwiches. I think most don't realize many of these contain horse meat, tho', as they're called mutton sausage, and how many read the ingredient list of things you've eaten since childhood? As for the hamburger - it makes me glad that I never eat ground beef that hasn't been made by my vocational students, and that Norway never joined the EU, so that we kept our strict rules regarding food production. We also have a much smaller incident rate for salmonella than Denmark and Sweden, for example, who had to relax their rules when they joined. That's another reason why the Big Mac costs so much in Norway - McDonald's can't employ the same cost-cutting measures they do elsewhere. |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:24 PM
malaise (107,042 posts)
15. Capitalism has gone mad
|
Thankfully we eat seafood and bird.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:33 PM
KamaAina (45,649 posts)
16. Great Brittan?
|
I knew the Examiner was a cat box liner, but whoa!
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 07:40 PM
WinkyDink (37,370 posts)
17. No such edict against horsemeat in Catholicism. Has the writer not been to France?
|
Last edited Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:09 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1) |
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:13 PM
Separation (417 posts)
19. I remember as a kid a tale I heard
|
That Wendy's was using horse meat. I do t know if that was true, but I remember hearing it all the time.
|
Response to Separation (Reply #19)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:30 PM
pinboy3niner (28,032 posts)
23. A SoCal Bob's Big Boy got busted for it in the '60s
|
It became part of the local folklore.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:14 PM
Kalidurga (4,829 posts)
20. Contaminated?
|
What an odd word to use in reference to horse meat. Really we should be more worried about the hormones and antibiotics that contaminate meat rather than what kind of meat it is.
And that is why I don't eat meat anymore. Growth hormones can't be good for a persons body. |
Response to Kalidurga (Reply #20)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:57 PM
jberryhill (30,130 posts)
26. Really....
|
"Hey, someone put meat in my meat!" |
Response to jberryhill (Reply #26)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:48 PM
Kalidurga (4,829 posts)
32. Ha ha that's what I was thinking nt.
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 08:19 PM
Cleita (64,660 posts)
21. I grind my own. I just hope that the chunk of beef I buy is really
|
beef and not something else. Of course I live in California however, I have noticed that the beef in the meat case is sometimes labeled as being from Canada or other places that are even further away.
|
Response to Cleita (Reply #21)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:07 PM
DonRedwood (3,549 posts)
30. soylent green!
Response to TheManInTheMac (Reply #25)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:06 PM
MattBaggins (6,414 posts)
35. I have had horse meat many times
|
It is quite tasty.
|
Response to MattBaggins (Reply #35)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 09:57 AM
TheManInTheMac (925 posts)
49. I don't remember having any, but I understand it was quite common in the US
|
in the 1970's. It is still consumed in Europe quite often. It's really just a cultural thing.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 09:07 PM
DonRedwood (3,549 posts)
29. But the mainstream media has been saying they just found "horse DNA'...they made it sound like
|
just a teenie tiny bit of horse got in there. Maybe part of an ear maybe, or just a little bit of hoof.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:10 PM
Iggo (22,570 posts)
36. Better than pink slime.
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:57 PM
mrs_p (1,995 posts)
40. The only surprising piece in the section posted above
|
is the part about Catholics not eating horse meat. I have never, ever heard of that in my 12+ years of Catholic school, then as an aspirant in an Catholic order. Not that it is untrue - just not something that was officially taught to me.
|
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 12:09 AM
OldDem2012 (3,526 posts)
41. In 1982 horse meat was found in the US Navy's food supply in New England.....
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 02:40 AM
RedCappedBandit (3,884 posts)
42. What difference does it even make
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 02:42 AM
littlemissmartypants (3,013 posts)
44. ...
Response to Whovian (Original post)
Sat Jan 19, 2013, 02:43 AM
littlemissmartypants (3,013 posts)

