The Singapore Forum

When is a beef burger not a beef burger? When it's 30% horse/pig meat of course!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ja ... -horsemeat

My problem is not with the horsemeat, but with FROZEN BURGER. Yuck!!!!

Mechanically reclaimed meat.. does it really matter if it is toenail of horse or cow?

Must admit, that if we eat meat, why do we differentiate between a horse and cow? Personally I prefer the cow between the two livng creatures. So in principle why ok to farm and butcher cows, but not horses?

or dogs?


I thought the main issue is that it should honour what it is claimed to sell?

Horses would be deemed to be pets I guess, hence the reluctance to eat them. I ate horsemeat in France (many years ago obviously), can't remember what it tasted like but I didn't go back for more!

I've got no problem eating animals that have been farmed to be eaten (as long as they are treated well), nor do I have a problem eating animals that are caught/shot in the wild in a subsistence manner.

I have problems with eating animals that are hunted/caught beyond sustainability levels, which mainly involves animals from the sea (whales, sharks, north sea cod).

I do have a problem with buying what I think is beef and finding out that there's 30% of non-beef meat in the burger/sausage, or if I was given a horse steak when I asked for beef.

BBC feature on "Why are the British revolted by the idea of horsemeat?"

How do you know the meat you eat has been "treated well" ?

Good question. If you buy from reputable sources, go for the grain fed beef, non-battery farm chickens and eggs....I suppose that's as much as you can do (without going out there and shooting it yourself. Which sounds like fun!)

Why would grain fed be better ? My understanding is that grain fed beef is more likely to be locked up whereas grass fed are more likely to be free roaming cattle.

That's probably what I meant!

baloo wrote:Why would grain fed be better ? My understanding is that grain fed beef is more likely to be locked up whereas grass fed are more likely to be free roaming cattle.

Nothing to do with horse burgers but Tas and I went to a talk last night about food wastage, sustainability, etc., and this particular topic came up. Most of the beef "grown" (as the farmer termed it) in Oz is grass fed. This cattle roams free. "Grain-fed" is just another food fad that lets restaurants charge more

That point was particularly interesting. That the cattle is grown in regions where nothing but native grasses will grow in that soil.

there was a horse butcher not far from where i grew up. on Friday my mum would go and get smoked horse meat for our Saturday bread dinner. wonderful meat, very lean. great on a slice of white bread with butter...