Mr Grumpy

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By Mr Grumpy - Thu 7th Feb 2013

 

The line, as most film lovers will know, was spoken by Morpheus in "The Matrix" as he tried to make Neo understand that nothing was actually as it seemed.

I'm not sure why, but that scene was the first thing that I thought of watching this evening's News about the UK's recent Horse burger scandal. It seems that the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have now found that "Findus Beef Lasagne" is in fact 60% Horse.

Following on from last month's revelation that Tesco's "Beef"burger was actually 29% Horse, it seems that every morsel of pre-packaged and overly processed food is being prodded and examined to see if everything is "as it should be".

Normally I pride myself on not caring about 90% of most things that are reported on the news, not having either enough education, patience or understanding (in some cases all 3) to grasp the point that some smug newsreader is trying to make.

On this occasion, it bothers me that most of the journos jumping on the bandwagon are missing some interesting question :

1.) What exactly is the issue ? - That Horsemeat has been found in food, or that Food that has been advertised as being one thing is actually something else ?

2.) Why has nobody actually addressed the fact that not only is Horsemeat fit for human consumption, but that it is actually quite popular in many European cultures ?

Personally, I would be more concerned if Meat of any description had been found in a veggie burger, and can't understand the moral difference between eating the flesh of one dead animal over that of another (and no, I'm not a Vegetarian).

I also hope that this encourages people to either buy their food from the local Butcher etc... rather than from abattoir sweepings, or prepare a meal themselves.

But what bothers me most is this : If the said Findus Lasagne is 60% Horse, and the Tesco burger is 29%, why is there the assumption that the remainder is Beef ?