Neigh, lad!!

[Frances_iom]

... Whats in the pies down your way, i wonder?

often E-coli

[cloughie]

we might have to if you are eating them dodgy burgers. Whats in the pies down your way, i wonder?

Call in McDonalds - maybe a McDobbin!

[Serial_Apologist]

perhaps people shopping in those shops canter ford good burgers.

Rein it in fellers - you're giving me the trots.

[Flosshilde]

often E-coli

I thought we were talking about horses, not sheep-dogs?

[mangerton]

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

"All right, I'll book a stable for two."

I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again c 1968

[mercia]

this thread gives me the withers
perhaps a glass of hock will help

[Beef Oven]

we might have to if you are eating them dodgy burgers. Whats in the pies down your way, i wonder?

Had a Tesco Horse-burger for lunch and I've had the trots all day.

[Pabmusic]

To inject a little sanity, there's nothing wrong with eating horse meat. It's neither inherently better nor worse than beef, though it tends to have less fat. The problem is not being told.

In the meantime, I'm so hungry I could eat a...beefburger.

[Pabmusic]

Had a Tesco Horse-burger for lunch and I've had the trots all day.

It gives new meaning to whinny-the-poo.

[teamsaint]

It gives new meaning to whinny-the-poo.

Do you think this thread will go on furlong?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

To inject a little sanity, there's nothing wrong with eating horse meat. It's neither inherently better nor worse than beef, though it tends to have less fat. The problem is not being told.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It gives new meaning to whinny-the-poo.

[ahinton]

Do you think this thread will go on furlong?

Before it's locked, do you mean?

Not only "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" (as already cited upthread) but also "horses for courses" has long been around in common parlance, as indeed has "horses' doovers" as a corruption of "hors d'oeuvres" so, given those facts and Pabmusic's correct observation about horsemeat not being at all unhealthy (and it's commonly eaten in several other countries), we should surely accept that it's merely a cultural thing here which could be changed by way of suitable PR in favour of such consumption although, if that did come about, it might be difficult to find the space to breed horses especially for human consumption. For proof of the fact that these cultural prejudices can sometimes seem somewhat absurd one surely need look no farther than the fact that not many people living in Australia eat rabbit.

Perhaps it could be used as a cheaper substitute for veal in a Gallopino Milanese...

[ahinton]

My two hour chat in a Burton Bradstock pub with a butcher friend of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall springs to mind. He told me that the only "supermarkets" that he would buy meat in are Waitrose and Marks and Spencers.

According to him, the main problem is that the label "Made in Britain" can mean simply that the product was packaged in Britain. Beware of Belgium, he said, or words to that effect. It seems that he might have been right.

Regulations on labelling and advertising are supposedly being tightened to discourage such misleading statements but, ironically, it's the fresh rather than the packaged meat that is most at potential risk here, in that there's no "label" to get right or wrong about sourcing" - one has to depend upon what one's being told about its origins.

I wouldn't any longer even buy meat from Marks & Spencers, although not because I don't trust their meat products but because, in my experience, Waitrose tends as a rule to offer superior meat products and makes a greater effort to ensure that as many as possible are locally sourced. That said, in the area where I live currently, there are several excellent farm shops and small private butchers as well as some splendid locally reared produce that it's almost unnecessary to go to Waitrose for meat.

I do agree that the issue over the horse business is simply a marketing one; if you want mutton, you don't expect to get lamb. I was astonished that, given that no one has suggested that the recent discoveries of horsemeat in products that omit reference to its inclusion in them are reckoned to have posed any health risk to their consumers, this subject was given pride of place as the first headline on BBCR4's 08.00 news this morning, displacing Syria, Afghanistan, Mali, the government's proposed new state retirement benefit scheme, Britain's relationship with EU and all the rest and remained in that exalted position until the helicopter accident over the Thames.

[Nick Armstrong]

To inject a little sanity...

I love an optimist!