This product may contain Shergar

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.