STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish furniture giant Ikea was drawn into Europe’s widening food labeling scandal Monday as authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries across the continent.
The Czech State Veterinary Administration said that horse meat was found in one-kilogram (2.2 pound) packs of frozen meatballs made in Sweden and shipped to the Czech Republic for sale in Ikea stores there. A total of 760 kilograms (1,675 pounds) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves.
My wife and I were talking about the horsemeat scandal in Europe. We realized that neither of us is bothered by the idea that somewhere along the line, we may have eaten horsemeat. By now, as former missionaries, we have stories of having eaten dishes as diverse as armadillo, alpaca, llama, guinea pig, rabbit, cooked cow udder, and probably some donkey.
Part of learning to live in another culture is learning that what is considered not-food in your culture is considered food in another culture. Even in the USA, it depends on what part of the country whether the following are considered food or not: pigeon, possum, rattlesnake, squirrel, rabbit, alligator, etc. It is well known that India’s Hindus consider cows to not be food at all. However, it is interesting to know that bulls were sacrificed centuries ago, even while cows were protected.
Yes, there is a scandal in Europe, and we may have bits of it here. But, I consider the scandal not to be the eating of horse meat. That is actually acceptable in some of the European countries and can be ordered there, for instance France and the Netherlands. China, too, is a horse-eating country as is Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, and Japan.
No, I consider the scandal to be the false-labeling of meat products or sausages and meat-based products in plastic sausage casings from DCW. That deliberate skirting of the law is a scandal and does need to be prosecuted. But, I must admit, that I do not consider the eating of horse to be automatically ethically wrong. That is a cultural taboo rather than a moral taboo.
I pretty much agree. The false labeling is inexcusable. What’s also really bad, and hasn’t gotten enough press in all this, is that the horse meat in question was almost certainly full of veterinary medications that are not for human consumption. Horses are “walking pharmacies,” as one expert quoted somewhere said (sorry I don’t have a citation, but it’s apparently pretty common knowledge). The question of whether eating horse meat is objectively wrong or a cultural taboo is hardly even important here. If you sell meat to people who are culturally opposed to eating it by lying to them about what it is, you are in the wrong. If it’s meat that is fundamentally unsafe for human consumption, you are an especially malicious crook.
By “common knowledge,” I mean common among people who know about raising horses, and should be known by those who process the meat for human consumption.
Exactly….not a moral taboo. Actually, every single thing that lives will die and be eaten by something at some point. (well, my aunt won’t as she was put in a coffin that was put in a metal box) So, my problem is not with that…it is how a being lives and how they die is what matters.
Please come on over and visit me….just got done with a series recently….
http://aroundeverycornerat.blogspot.com/2013/02/all-4-in-1-judging-spiritual-abuse.html
Not long ago a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco was shut down when the Health Dept. discovered that the “chicken” dishes they were serving often were actually prepared with pigeons that they had trapped on the roof. Again, eating pigeon is not unheard of by any means, but the deception is illegal and a breach of the trust we put in people who put food in our mouths.
Northern Chinese say “Cantonese will eat anything on four legs except the table, and I’m not too sure of the table.”
Exactly, to several of you. It is the lie that is the problem, not the meat.