Burger

The discovery of horse DNA in beef burgers for sale in Britain and Ireland highlights widespread confusion about the origin of horse meat in the European food chain, Humane Society Internationalsays.
“We don’t yet know how horse meat came to be in these beef burgers, but consumers have rightly raised questions about how much is really known about the origin of our food,” the charity’s EuropeanUnion director, Joanna Swabe, said.

“Killing horses for meat raises serious ethical questions and causes extreme disquiet,” she said.

“Horses are sensitive, sentient animals for whom thelong-distance transport and slaughter process can be hugely distressing. Research commissioned by Humane Society International shows that many EU citizens would prefer to avoid eating horse meat altogetherand only a very small percentage claim to eat it frequently.”

Swabe said a retail investigation recently conducted by the charity revealed that many EU consumers may be completely unaware of theorigin of horse meat – or that they are buying horse meat at all – due to inadequate labelling.


A butcher shop specializing in horse meat in Pezenas, Languedoc, France. (Wikipedia)
Its report intothe availability of horse meat in Belgium, France and the Netherlands found horse meat products to be widely available to consumers in these countries in a variety of forms including fresh chilledproducts and processed horse meat products, such as sliced smoked meats, salami and sausages.

Horse meat was also found as a “hidden ingredient” in cheap convenience meat snack products, particularlyin Belgium and the Netherlands. The study observed that was likely that consumers may be completely unaware that these products contain horse meat.

The retail investigation found that only fresh,chilled cuts of horse meat were labelled with reliable country-of-origin information.

In contrast, the study concluded that it was impossible for consumers to ascertain where the meat used in...