So
Tesco have admitted to finding horse meat in their beef burgers, does
this mean that we can now expect packaging to display the health
warning 'This product may contain Shergar'? What is more
this could have been the case for several years.
Needless
to say the news has already spawned a fair sprinkling of horse
related humour.
“My
neighbour ate some of the Tesco burgers, it left her with a nagging
cough that made her hoarse. They admitted her to hospital where her
condition is said to be stable.”
I can't
say that I am surprised by the news nor is it likely to affect me
since I gave up eating burgers when I realised that the packaging had
more flavour and nutritional value than the contents of the box.
The
last time there was a scare surrounding beef it was the BSE issue of
the mid-90s which led to the ban of the sale of British Beef in 1996.
Let's hope there is no repetition of the hysteria of that period.
The
French must be totally bemused by the fuss created over what
they would consider a delicacy.
Tesco
is clearly taking the matter very seriously and I suspect that in the
fullness of time there will be yet another public enquiry.
Yes, in
our topsy-turvy world I suppose it is a news story of a practice that
should not have been allowed to happen and that needs to be stopped
but let's not get carried away by events. Who really knows what the
constituents are of any brand of sausages? Half the population under the age of 20 probably believe that beef comes from horses anyway.
If
Tesco (or any other supermarket chain) found traces of horse meat in
their fish pie then I would begin to worry.
