How Much Beef Is In Your Burger? 709
dgharmon writes in with an interesting article about how much (or how little) beef is in a UK burger. "The presence of horsemeat in value beefburgers has caused a furore. But what is usually in the patties? It has been a sobering week for fans of the beefburger. Tesco have used full-page adverts in national newspapers to apologize for selling burgers in the UK that were found to contain 29% horsemeat. Traces of horse DNA were also detected by the Food Standards Agency of Ireland in products sold by Iceland, Lidl, Aldi and Dunnes. But a beefburger rarely contains 100% beef."
McDonalds! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:McDonalds! (Score:5, Funny)
Try the meatballs, they're the dogs bollocks
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Re:McDonalds! (Score:5, Funny)
The patties are 100% beef.
Re:McDonalds! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:McDonalds! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep. Angus beef: A strain of cattle that grows faster then most, ranchers love that. Lately a trademark into which much advertising has been sunk.
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Breed of cattle you clod
A strain is something used to describe a virus, not a mammal.
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Re:McDonalds! (Score:4, Interesting)
Beef and beef by products. Google 'pink slime' to get the muckraker version. They (McFood) did remove it eventually.
Anecdote: I was feeding my dogs walmart house brand canned beef dogfood. I then went to TacoBell. As I pulled up to the drivethrough I got hit in the face by the smell of walmart house brand canned beef dogfood. I fed the tacos to the dogs. I haven't been back. That was 12 years ago. I extended it to no 'Yum Foods' brands, nothing to miss.
Re:McDonalds! (Score:4, Informative)
Beef and beef by products. Google 'pink slime' to get the muckraker version. They (McFood) did remove it eventually.
The travesty with that is that the "pink slime" is real beef. Muscle tissue. Not the highest quality, but that doesn't matter at all in hamburger. Now all the people who processed that beef are out of jobs, and since it's all geting thrown away instead of eaten our beef prices are higher. Good job.
Oblig (Score:4, Informative)
Mmm... unlisted percentages of wheat flour, water, beef fat, soya protein isolate, salt, onion powder, yeast, sugar, barley malt extract, garlic powder, white pepper extract, celery extract and onion extract...
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Would never sprinkle "soya protein isolate" on my burgers anymore. Always thought I added too much
Re:Oblig (Score:4, Funny)
That's the thing though. When you buy a beefburger that isn't 100% beef you aren't expecting the percentage that isn't beef to be from some other animal without that being pointed out on the labelling.
You buy a pork and beef sausage you expect pork and beef in it. Not ocelot.
Independent: the best #horsemeat Twitter gags (Score:5, Funny)
@Freddie_UK: A woman has been taken to hospital after eating horsemeatburgers. Her condition is said to be stable.
@BobJWilliams: I expect this only relates to those mini-burgers you have as snacks. You know, the horse d'oeuvres.
@JohnMoynes: I get all my horsemeat from an independent dodgy butcher.
@DiamondsIRL: Are you in favour of Horsemeat in your burgers? Yay or Neigh?
@GBretman: So horsemeat has been found in TescoProducts but a spokesman says It's bollocks
@pinkyperfection: I had a tesco burger and now I'm feeling a little horse
@brucel: Those Aldi horse burgers were nice, but I prefer My Lidl Pony
@PaulLewis: Scientist: "Sir, we've discovered horse meat in your burgers." Tesco boss: "Why the long face?"
@PensionsMonkey: There was an old woman who swallowed a horse, she'd been to Tesco, of course.
@elhaydo: Good thing about these horse puns is it's stopped all the sick Jimmy Saddle jokes
The best #horsemeat Twitter gags following Tesco burger blunder [independent.co.uk]
Re:Independent: the best #horsemeat Twitter gags (Score:5, Funny)
Horsemeat isn't the problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Deceptive trade practices is the problem.
Re:Horsemeat isn't the problem (Score:5, Funny)
Horse DNA, not meat. Probably just horse semen. Nothing to worry about.
A European problem? (Score:4, Interesting)
While I don't have numbers at hand, it is my understanding that there are very few horse slaughter facilities in North America. There is a certain horse culture that are very opposed to seeing any horse slaughtered, even for food.
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More of a British problem. The horse losing the race goes into the burgers.
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We have plenty of excess horses from wanna be horsey people. Turns out owning a horse is quite expensive...
Re:A European problem? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's partly because it was made illegal in 2006 or 2007 (indirectly, they defunded the government inspectors of horsemeat so, no inspection, no sale). That caused a lot of horsemeat to be shipped to other countries. However, back in 2011 the horsemeat inspectors got funded again so now you can eat a horse if you are hungry enough.
FWIW, the absolute best piece of meat I've ever eaten was horse - in the italian part of switzerland, I ordered it as a lark. They served it so rare it was bloody and I could barely take the first bite. But it was amazingly tender and not gamy at all. Better than the best filet mignon. However I've been told my experience is not the norm, the stuff is usually stringy.
Re:A European problem? (Score:4, Informative)
IIRC, all horse processing plants in the US have been shut down. (They exported most of their product) It has been a disaster.
A lot of people who own horses are lower middle class families – they can afford the horse until it’s 15 years old (when the vet bills start up) or the economy crashes. They are few takes of these types of free horses and the local animal shelter is normally full.
In the past they were taken off the knackers. Now – well – where we live there were a rash of horses that were “set free” in the local state park. The rangers rounded them up and had to shoot them (yes, they did try to find homes from them – but see above).
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North American horses are smarter (Score:4, Interesting)
That may explain the difference in attitude between areas. It is hard to feel sorry for an animal that is dense (hence our healthy and unapologetic appetite for cow meat), but a smart animal that you easily develop a relationship with would seem inhumane to use as livestock.
You know, perhaps cow populations in India may be much more intelligent than the average Western cows, and that may be why they are reluctant to eat them. It'd be worth investigating, certainly.
Re:A European problem? (Score:5, Funny)
In California, it is actually illegal to eat horse. It was voted on in a proposition a few years back.
Neat! Did they also say why? Or was it a spur of the moment thing?
Re:A European problem? (Score:5, Funny)
This actually explains something (Score:3)
So it was actually called the "Big Mr. Ed Burger" for a reason. I thought the name was the chef who invented it, not the actor that ended up in the first 91 copies. Chalk up one more mystery solved by teh intertubes.
-Charlie
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Did they also sell a "Francis the Talking Burger"?
Honesty (Score:2)
I know they put some fillers (soy protein, wheat, water, etc.) and flavoring (onion, celery, etc.) in my hamburger meat. I'm fine with that. But if you're selling me beef burgers, then I want the meat parts to be beef. I have no particular gut reaction against eating horse and it can actually be tasty to mix a little pork into ground beef; I just think they should be honest about what they are selling.
It just comes down to honesty.
UK only. (Score:4, Informative)
Sure, there was the flap over "pink slime"... but that was still beef, though it was washed in ammonia. I don't think it was the meat people were bitching about so much as the ammonia.
It should be noted that only one company produced the ammonia-soaked "pink slime", and they don't do it anymore. Other companies process trimmings, too, but they already used other methods to keep the meat bacteria-free.)
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It appears the adulteration was done in Holland, and the company that did it will get a €1050 fine.
Not just burgers... (Score:5, Funny)
They never tell us how much dog is in our hot dogs either :(
The problem is food safety, traceability and BSE (Score:5, Insightful)
Various people have commented that this isn't about the fact it was horse, that it's all about deception or poor food quality.
Actually it's about food safety, traceability, and the long shadow of BSE.
After the BSE scandal, the UK and EU introduced some of the strictest standards and processes for the tracking and tracing of meat in the world. These recent cases have demonstrated that these processes do not appear to be working.
The scandal here is not that supermarkets were selling burgers with horsemeat in, it was that they *didn't know* they were selling horsemeat. In theory they should be able to trace every gram of meat in their burgers.
Somehow meat of unknown origin was getting into the food chain.
If we can't prevent horsemeat getting in then we can't prevent infected beef from getting in.
That's the real scandal, that the world's toughest food traceability system appears not to work properly.
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I would have modded you up but I don't currently have any mod points. I decided to post a smug comment that you probably don't agree with instead.
Recipie (Score:4, Informative)
Go to a butcher shop and have them grind you up some fresh serloin.
Heat up an iron skillet. Fry up a few rashers of bacon (I like Wright's) until it's nice and crispy. Take the bacon out of the skillet when done.
Dice up some yellow onion and sautee it in the bacon grease. When done, set aside.
Form the ground sirloin into thin patties, throw on a little salt and pepper, and cook them in the bacon/onion grease. It will take some trial and error to figure out how to get a good medium using this technique - on my regular sized burner on medium-high heat it takes 2-3 minutes a side. If you want cheese, put a slice of American on a minute or two before you pull them off. The heat from the skillet will melt the cheese onto the burger. You can put on any kind of cheese you like, but American is designed to be melted onto things, so it works out the best.
When finished, heat up some sesame seed burger buns in the microwave for about twenty seconds. Combine the burger, onion and bacon in the bun. Optionally add mustard - though they are so good I usually don't add anything else.
You're welcome :)
they lost a marketing opportunity (Score:3)
It would be nice to have more accessible options for red meat than corn fed (or, for a premium, grass-fed) cow. I understand how fat and marbling affects flavor and texture, but it makes sense to me to train yourself to prefer healthier foods. It seems a fair assumption that horse meat will be a lot leaner than cow meat.
The real issue (Score:4, Informative)
The point isn't what do you expect but what it "should" contain. The article at makes makes it seem foolish to expect hamburger to be made of beef and you should feel luck it has any meat at all. The fillers and horsemeat aren't about making a cheaper more afordable product as many suggest it's about maximizing profits. I looked it up and if you ground the whole dressed carcass including the expensive cuts it'd only be around $2 a pound not counting grinding costs. The point being they use the absolute worst cuts and even that is too good so they cut it with pink slime and other fillers and even that isn't enough so they add in horse meat. The label needs to reflect the actual ingredients and proportions. If corporations could get away with it they'd sell us beef flavored sawdust and sell it for the same price meat should sell for.
Re:The real issue (Score:4, Funny)
The best cuts are sold as cuts, because they are worth more per kilo than ground beef. Of the remainder of the cow, the grindables get turned into ground beef for burgers and the like. The non-grindables are processed into other products, mostly additives.
Reminds me ... (Score:4, Funny)
OK let's get the comments out of the way (Score:3)
"What do you put on your burger?" -- "A fiver each way at Aintree!"
Why do they use horse meat? to save mon-neigh!
So you got a burger - why the long face?
I opened the fridge to check the burgers -- and they're off ! (said in the voice of a racing commentator)
"These must be Viking burgers" -- "why?" --"because they look like a Norse" ...
What I found amazing is how quickly these spread after the news broke -- I'd heard the first two within 45 minutes of the radio news.
Re:Well no (Score:5, Informative)
I make burgers out of 100% beef and they are not steak
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So nothing in there but beef? How does it all stick together?
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Sawdust. 100% Natural.
At least that what it seems they use in the US.
Re:Well no (Score:5, Interesting)
When I inquired as to why a local fast food restaurant was selling "shakes", not "milkshakes", I found out that they could not sell them as "milk" shakes because there was not enough milk in them. They were selling sweetened sawdust ( aka "cellulose" ).
OK. It tastes good. Not all that good for you, just sugar and indigestibles, no nutritive content at all from what I can tell. But pleasurable to ingest. OK, at least I know what it is and make my decisions accordingly.
( incidentally, their coffee is made with some topping which is completely indigestible to me. I found out during a bout of flu. It all came out, processed, but untouched. Lots of it. I think it was sweetened and foamed Olestra.
Same with the horse meat. I will consider it no big deal if it is accurately represented on its bill of contents. It can be ground up worms for what I care. If it is biologically compatible with me and it tastes good, I'll go for it.
Personally, I am far more concerned with pesticide and other biocide remnants in my food. I am far more concerned with genetically modified stuff than things that have been in the food chain since life began. I do not know how well I or others may metabolize sheep designed to put spider silk proteins in their milk or corn designed to make its own pesticide. I guess time will tell.
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I'm still wondering how yogurt can still be sold as such in the USA. The only true yogurt I know of in my local grocery store is the store brand itself, which is actually made with milk and sugar. All the name brands are made with food starch and gelatin, and they taste more like waxy pudding than yogurt.
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Who were these customers who made McDonald's think a milkshake needs to be of such a consistency that you have to use an industrial suction pump to get it through the straw? I want to go back in time and kick them all in the nuts.
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Re:Well no (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a video of a TV show Heston Blumenthal [wikipedia.org] did in the UK, which demonstrated how you can make a burger using only chunks of sirloin and salt as the binding agent [youtu.be].
Looks pretty good to me!
What the hell is wrong with americans? (Score:5, Insightful)
You buy your burgers premade! I eat burgers frequently, but I make them myself. it would never occur to me to purchase them premade. Just grind the meat, take a bunch of the result, mix it up with some garlic and onions, and a few other species, then pack it gently with your hands, and that's it!
it's the grease in the meat that keep it together. You don't need anything else.
Re:What the hell is wrong with americans? (Score:5, Funny)
and a few other species
Best Typo Ever!
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How does it stick? Fat. Beef fat. Muscle tissue and fat all ground together kind of stick together. Extra lean beef ground into ground beef doesn't stick together especially well. For that reason, the butcher actually ADDS BEEF FAT to the mix. It's still 100% beef. Only when he starts adding other ingredients is it no longer 100% beef. Spices, flour, cornmeal, anything that wasn't a natural part of the cow before it was slaughtered causes his ground beef to be less than 100% pure beef.
The leanest gr
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Indeed, part of the reason McDonald's patties taste so horrible is, ironically, that they're too healthy. Years of campaigning by public health groups has led to McDonald's using a ridiculously low fat and sodium content in their burgers, which results in them tasting bland and rubbery.
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Again.
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"If it were 100% beef it would be a steak."
"Steak" is the way the meat is cut, not what kind of meat it is. There is pork steak, salmon steak, etc.
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It makes no sense period. You don't use the same cut of meat you'd use to make a great steak to grind for burgers.
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:4, Funny)
Plus, all of their horses are 100% horse-fed for that double-horse juiced-in goodness!
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not about the ethics of the animal in question, it's about the promises made by the manufacturer (no mention of horse) and the questions of quality control, correct process and oversight.
My concern isn't "OMG HORSIES!"
My concern is "fuck you consumer" as they pump the product full of whatever they think they can get away with to turn a profit.
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:4)
I would purchase them again today. Horses are not especially more intelligent than cows.
Viewing this though the issue of horsemeat misses the bigger (and more important) question raised. Namely, that if horsemeat was able to end up where it shouldn't have, what other garbage has "accidentally" made its way into these burgers over the years?
Meat rejected for human consumption (destined for pet food and the like or for destruction) making its way back into the human food chain? Quite likely, this has already been heard of. Other animals? God knows what crap?
It's not remotely surprising that burgers costing less than 13p each (inc. VAT (*)) would contain any old rubbish. Doesn't mean it's acceptable for anyone to sell that, regardless of the price, but it shouldn't be surprising.
(*) Sales tax, for the benefit of those outside the UK
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that price makes the issue obvious. I a ball of paper the same size would cost more, then whatever you are purchasing isnt food.
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:5, Insightful)
I would purchase them again today.
Horses are not especially more intelligent than cows.
Horse meat is also very tasty -- I like it better than beef. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to buy where I live. One restaurant offered it, but there was a huge uproar about it and I believe they've now taken it off their menu.
It's really not fair that I should have to change my diet because of a bunch of loud-mouthed activisits. Either meat is legal or it isn't, and -- except for reasons of public health -- I don't see why some species should be considered 'OK' and others not.
farmers keep pigs as pets (Score:3)
Have you never met an FFA member or gone to a 4H event?
And we eat pigs (typically the pets even). And rabbits. And fish.
As to eating cats and dogs, I'm not against it personally.
Re:i have purchased the affected products. (Score:5, Interesting)
Cats and dogs are carnivores and on top of the food chain where the less than healthy stuff gets concentrated. All herbivores are good to eat, unless they're fed odd diets or medicated.
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Cats and dogs are domesticated animals that eat whatever humans feed them. Dogs raised for food (in Korea, for example) have a diet no worse (maybe better) than most cattle. And even the average family dog and house cat eat perfectly safe food that is not "concentrating" poisons.
Not that I am really interested in eating either of them, but let's not make excuses, the reason is purely psychological.
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yes you just have to worry about malnutrition!
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yes you just have to worry about malnutrition!
You have to worry more about accidentally ingesting dairy and losing the vegan super powers you gained at vegan academy
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Or accidentally ingesting dairy/meat and getting diarrhea because you no longer have the gut bacteria to properly process it. (like that vegan idiot from super-size me who puked from just eating a double-quarter-pounder, and then blamed all his health problem on McDonalds)
Re:Go Vegan (Score:4, Funny)
Vegans don't have enough meat in them to make a decent burger.
Re:Go Vegan (Score:5, Insightful)
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And you don't have to worry about any of this BS.
What if they put HS in your burgers instead of BS?
And if you are vegan yourself and not simply offering it up as a suggestion, have you seriously _never_ been served a dish containing meat when you ordering a vegan dish? It's happened to a few vegetarian friends on numerous occasions... I never really saw what the fuss was though... i mean it's got vegetables in it right? ;)
Re:Go Vegan (Score:5, Interesting)
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Actually (Score:5, Insightful)
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Unless you get a horse that has been in the US racing circuit and has been fed steroids, antibiotics and bog knows what for most of it's life. I'd bet that the horsemeat in the British burgers was never tested for same.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Informative)
Unless you get a horse that has been in the US racing circuit and has been fed steroids, antibiotics and bog knows what for most of it's life. I'd bet that the horsemeat in the British burgers was never tested for same.
Inthe EU, every horse is required (by EU law) to have a record of medications given to it in its entire lifetime. In particular, the record must state whether any particular item given would render it "unfit" for human consumption. There are several such medications, but they are not commonly used; all horses I know of would be fit for consumption on that basis. Of course, inspection of the horse's carcase by a veterinarian is required before it is deemed suitable for use as meat, since eating something which had died from certain diseases might be unpleasant, whatever the animal.
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That reminds me of the "meat flavored" spaghetti sauce at the store.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Interesting)
Most horse meat in the EU is from places like Poland and Romania where horses are still in use for (farm)work.
Personally I find it rather a repulsive waste of resources to leave a horse to die of old age and send the carcass to destruction instead of having it humanely killed by the butcher.
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I keep a shaker on the table with the salt and pepper. I couldnt imagine bacon without a sprinkling of extra antibiotics and steroids.
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Most (all?) of the samples had "trace" quantities of horse (and some pig) DNA. But the DNA test is extremely sensitive: it could test positive if the same truck was used to transport cows and horses, not necessarily at the same time, never mind meat. The FSAI scientist in question is on record as saying that if thats all that happened, they would have privately / quietly warned the meat processors to clean up their act.
But one burger was found to be 29% horse, and hence the scandal. Later tests have since s
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Very interesting story. But there are ridiculously large numbers of horses in the US that never see a race track, and aren't used for anything more than the entertainment of spoiled teen age suburban girls, who seem to have an unnatural attraction to horses and ponies.
There are horse lovers everywhere, my local newspaper was recently full of letters to the editor deploring the selling of horses to slaughter, wanting to make it against the law, and metaphorically equating the horses with children. The lette
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I would also agree mostly, but I would worry that some of them would of been given some medicine that was not meant to be given to any food animals. As long as that is taken care of, I would also prefer it over the alternatives found in generic value meat.
But I got to disagree on the names, most of the meat I eat had a name.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Funny)
Obviously you've never been through the desert on a horse with no name.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the problem is rather less about the actual horse meat and more about deception. If you're buying something labeled 'beef', it's not pleasant to find that it's up to a third 'not-beef'. With that deception also comes the suspicion of further deception. Does the product even meet health standards? Can you believe anything else that's written about the product on the label?
Then, horse meat is generally cheaper than beef. So charging beef prices for deceptively labeled horse meat is its own valid source of complaint.
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The answer is that you can't believe anything they say. They are proven liars and there is no credibility at all.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Interesting)
If I discovered 30% of the meet in my burger was lobster, I wouldn't be the least bit upset, just confused. I would be equally upset if I had discovered it was 100% beef, but that they used only cow rectums, snouts and bladders to make my hamburger. The issue is the issue of being cheated.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Funny)
That would be totally wrong, labeling a hot dog as a hamburger.
Re:Actually (Score:4, Informative)
It's a taboo in the US, like dog meat.
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I saw a news article that asked a lot of people what they thought about eating horsemeat. A lot of them were not against the idea. I am not against it either. I have hunted for food and in my past, I did army survival training and some of the things in that are not generally thought of as food.
What everyone is cross at is horsemeat in the food chain unannounced. I agree with this.
The virtues or not of horsemeat are an entirely different matter and not the problem. As a civilised country, we have rules
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I have had Horse Steak while in Switzerland. It was very tasty and tasted of, well, horse, and unlike any other meat I've had.
That said, BEEFburgers should contain beef. If I wanted a horse burger I would buy one.
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Hmm not really, here in Italy horse meat is available off the shelf, and in North-East there are even dedicated butcheries. One of Verona's typical dishes is horse stew with polenta, and it's readily available in all local traditional restaurants.
I think the problem in finding horse meat has more to do with eating habits than with EU regulations.
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it's not customary to eat any animal you gave a name to.
Unfortunately that doesn't stop children living on farms from losing their pet lamb one day only to be fed a delicious roast the next.
Re:Actually (Score:5, Funny)
A bold move for a potentially edible animal.
If it had been rosemary and laurel leaves too he'd be on toast.
Re:Actually (Score:4, Funny)
Ah, another Dwarf Fortress player.
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Dont't get it, meat is meat, and with spices on it'll taste the same. If people get upset by horsemeat, cowmeat , dogmeat or whatever, maybe they shoudln't eat meat at all.
Wrong. You don't want to eat the meat from an animal that also eats meat. Remember what happened when they fed ground up cows to cows? It doesn't end well.
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Lets not forget about canis lupus familiaris. I hear those are a delicacy in some parts of the world.
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It was never thrown away to begin with, dumbass. Before it ended up on our dinner tables, it was primarily used in pet foods. It has nothing to do with being ethical, and everything to do with creating a grossly inferior product using the runoff of the animal we are not accustomed to eating and having to chemical treat it just so it doesn't actually kill us when we do eat it.
There was nothing right about what they were doing, except for their bank accounts, being able to stretch out their original product b