Neigh, lad!!

[ahinton]

That one's better. Although I don't think it merits a , I'll award it a

I don't care a gram of horse DNA what you might "award" it; this is not a competition!

[ahinton]

Delius myth= Delia Smith. Not exactly Peter Cook, but better than most of AH's attempts at a joke.

I do not make such attempts, so it can't be. No one other than Peter Cook could ever really quite be Peter Cook and I would certainly never seek to achieve any such accolade. I did once have a few lessons from someone with whom he worked, however...

[Frances_iom]

Frances, I know the FSA has been blocked by Tesco but if this article is to believed there will be some consistent labelling at some time this year (although it's disappointing to see it is voluntary)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20050420

I don't go to stores such as Iceland but when I see the prices on their windows (£1.50 for a family sized lasagne for example) I really do wonder what recovered - is that the right word?- meat might be in it.

this more serious topic is lost in the welter of rerun jokes - I avoid Iceland's processed food though its raw products (fish in my case) seem to be ok but you sometimes need to read the label carefully as to which type of fish is being supplied, often a cheaper less flavoursome variety - I don't eat meat so can't comment on the lasagne etc but it is remarkable where animal protein can be extrated from using the water jet process - add a good dollop of sugar and you can hide the taste

[Lateralthinking1]

Frances, I know the FSA has been blocked by Tesco but if this article is to believed there will be some consistent labelling at some time this year (although it's disappointing to see it is voluntary)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20050420

I don't go to stores such as Iceland but when I see the prices on their windows (£1.50 for a family sized lasagne for example) I really do wonder what recovered - is that the right word?- meat might be in it. The scandal is not products that contain horse, I have eaten horse in France, but not informing consumers that it's My Lidl Pony shows complete contempt for consumers
Mr. GG, I agree about wheeling out Macca but he is a National Treasure by Royal Appointment and the Nation's Favourite Vegetarian (also it helps him plug his late wife's range of frozen veggie food!)

I agree that the scandal is not about horse although I wouldn't choose to eat it. It is the fact that they just don't know what is in these things. Seriously, I think that they should now take samples to see if there is earth, grass, sand, metal etc. I often buy ready meals and add a lot of salad and green vegetables to them but it has put me off buying them for now, even at Waitrose etc.

[amateur51]

I do not make such attempts, so it can't be. No one other than Peter Cook could ever really quite be Peter Cook and I would certainly never seek to achieve any such accolade. I did once have a few lessons from someone with whom he worked, however...

Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling perchance?

He could teach anyone a thing or two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRS-eOzH3Y

[Anna]

I agree that the scandal is not about horse although I wouldn't choose to eat it. It is the fact that they just don't know what is in these things. Seriously, I think that they should now take samples to see if there is earth, grass, sand, metal etc. I often buy ready meals and add a lot of salad and green vegetables to them but it has put me off buying them for now, even at Waitrose etc.

Desinewed meat (DSM) has been banned I think by EU. Mechanically Recovered Meat (MRM) seems to be main compotents in sausages, chicken nuggetty shaped things, burgers. The BBC had a series of programmes, around 18 months ago, investigating MRM and the production of chicken kievs. I often used to enjoy a ready made kiev, after seeing the pink slime spun round in a centrifuge I haven't bought one since, if I want a kiev I make it myself with real chook from my butcher.

I went into Iceland sometime ago, for milk. As I was cooking a curry a pack of mini onion bhargis caught my eye, only 99p. When I got them home I saw "Produced and packed in China"! So I emailed Iceland querying their carbon footprint when bharjis could so easily be produced in this country. I got a reply that R&D would look into it. I felt uneasy about eating them and chucked them in the bin, being wary of hygiene and flying so many miles (No offence to the Chinese I must say!)

[Flosshilde]

The BBC had a series of programmes, around 18 months ago, investigating MRM and the production of chicken kievs. I often used to enjoy a ready made kiev, after seeing the pink slime spun round in a centrifuge I haven't bought one since, if I want a kiev I make it myself with real chook from my butcher.

Slightly off (or missing) the point, but I think M&S's kievs are made from an actual chicken breast.

[Mr Pee]

I agree that the scandal is not about horse although I wouldn't choose to eat it. It is the fact that they just don't know what is in these things. Seriously, I think that they should now take samples to see if there is earth, grass, sand, metal etc. I often buy ready meals and add a lot of salad and green vegetables to them but it has put me off buying them for now, even at Waitrose etc.

I would not be surprised to see any of the above in cheap supermarket products. What do you expect when you pay 1.00 for 6 "beef"burgers? I have, when in dire straits, bought such products, and I've never been under any illusion that all sorts of nasty things are probably in them. I try to avoid Tesco's whenever possible anyway, even though it is my nearest large supermarket. There is something about the place that just puts me off. Waitrose is a mile or two further away, but I am pretty confident that their quality control and general approach to sourcing their produce means that they would not allow this sort of thing to happen.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21059425

[Anna]

Slightly off (or missing) the point, but I think M&S's kievs are made from an actual chicken breast.

Yes, as are Waitrose's. I did not mean to smear all chicken breasts (for those who enjoy them) with contamination. I merely say, weigh up the product in your hand and ask, how can this family sized meal product be produced for a mere 99p without some skullduggery and sleight of hand? re ingriendents?

[Lateralthinking1]

Desinewed meat (DSM) has been banned I think by EU. Mechanically Recovered Meat (MRM) seems to be main compotents in sausages, chicken nuggetty shaped things, burgers. The BBC had a series of programmes, around 18 months ago, investigating MRM and the production of chicken kievs. I often used to enjoy a ready made kiev, after seeing the pink slime spun round in a centrifuge I haven't bought one since, if I want a kiev I make it myself with real chook from my butcher.

I went into Iceland sometime ago, for milk. As I was cooking a curry a pack of mini onion bhargis caught my eye, only 99p. When I got them home I saw "Produced and packed in China"! So I emailed Iceland querying their carbon footprint when bharjis could so easily be produced in this country. I got a reply that R&D would look into it. I felt uneasy about eating them and chucked them in the bin, being wary of hygiene and flying so many miles (No offence to the Chinese I must say!)

Someone was saying this morning that a lot of travelling meat is deep frozen for two years. Salmon is apparently cheaper than a fish finger by weight and they put every part of a fish in a fish finger. The first worries me, the second, if true, is merely annoying and a bit odd and the third doesn't worry me very much at all. Neither does the mashing of ingredients in decent burgers.

Your concerns are interesting. For all of their detailed surveys, I don't think stores understand the individuality of customers. They simply put them into their ideas of groups. In practice, people can be very specific on what they like and dislike in food.

For example, I've never been a fussy eater in occasional situations. If someone prepares a meal for me, I will eat it. I have happily had food from burger vans outside a football ground or at festivals. My only rule is that I find the ones that look the most hygienic and, having found two or three good ones, I go back to them. Actually, I quite like them. They are a part of the experience.

I am different when it comes to what I will eat routinely. I have higher expectations then of what I am buying. Taste and animal welfare become key issues so, for example, I won't buy an egg that isn't free range. At a B and B, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, as are Waitrose's. I did not mean to smear all chicken breasts (for those who enjoy them) with contamination. I merely say, weigh up the product in your hand and ask, how can this family sized meal product be produced for a mere 99p without some skullduggery and sleight of hand? re ingriendents?

Absolutely agree. One of the things I dislike about supermarkets is that they have encouraged people to believe that meat can be cheap, mainly because they sell stuff that's made from slurry stripped from bones or ground up hide & gristle, or because they have forced farmers into selling it to them at a loss.

[ahinton]

Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling perchance?

He could teach anyone a thing or two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeRS-eOzH3Y

Since he was one of the many so many alter egos of Peter Cook himself, that is clearly the wrong answer (although I still wonder to this day how much had to be paid to the Rachmaninov Estate for the use of the music in that clip!); I'm sure that a little thought might produce the correct answer, however, but let me in the meantime give you something of a (non-)clue - what he tried to teach me was the fundamentals of species counterpoint, although his somewhat dimwitted student on these occasions might have caused him to wonder if he was actually teaching specious counterpoint...

[ahinton]

Absolutely agree. One of the things I dislike about supermarkets is that they have encouraged people to believe that meat can be cheap, mainly because they sell stuff that's made from slurry stripped from bones or ground up hide & gristle, or because they have forced farmers into selling it to them at a loss.

Indeed; I'm sure that Waitrose is substantially less guilty of that than any of the others, but your point is well made nonetheless.

[antongould]

Of course in Europe there are no such qualms - English translation of an expensive dish shown in a Restaurant in Geneva

Fricassee of Poultry Farmer in Red Wine

Rumpole will provide the French.

[teamsaint]

it seems that the meat trade is up to all sorts of tricks, and has been for a long time.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/maeve-dineen-unwelcome-return-to-spotlight-for-the-great-survivor-goodman-28959092.html

Stick to courgettes and nice veggies, I would.....