Not a good week for the food retailers and beef industry in Europe. After initial reports of a low level of horse meat found in burgers produced in Ireland, one food company has found that its Frozen Beef Lasagna is 100 percent horse meat. Frozen food manufacturer, Findus, has found that its Beef Lasagna sold in supermarkets across Europe was not beef, but horse meat. Retailers are removing this and many other beef products from their shelves. Findus blamed "supply chain issues" for the snafu, and pointed the finger at the French company, Comigel, who supplied their meat products. However Comigel supply hundreds of other companies and this has led to the widespread panic at supermarkets across Europe. After the issue with beef burgers from Ireland, millions of burgers were removed from supermarkets; this latest problem could see a lasting distrust of the beef industry in Europe as well as the loss of millions of Euros of revenue.
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I am very worried about buying any meat from the store. I usually shop at Tesco or Waitrose, but I am thinking that I should just avoid all red meats for a while.
I read that the horse meat fiasco has moved to Tesco’s spag bol, there is horsemeat in that too. This is going to push people to fish and veggies.
I am very worried about the food supply chain in Europe. First it is a company making Frozen food in France, now it might be some Romania meat/horse firm. What an earth is going on? Is there anyone we can trust or do we have to grow our own veggies?
This horse meat fiasco is still dragging on with more food vendors worried about the content of their products. What will be it next? Gerbil meat in the Chicken Tikka Massala? Cat Food Chill???
Horse meat is really bad news for the meat industry as a whole. It may take a few months for everyone across Europe to forget about horse tainted beef. Although this could only be the tip of the iceburg and how many other stories are going to come out in the next few weeks.
It now turns out Nestle has items that have traces of horse meat. Is there any manufacturer or supermarket that does not have products with horse meat (or worse). Perhaps each pack of frozen beefburgers should come with a DNA test as well as “nutrition facts” on the packaging.
The horsemeat problem appears to just go on and on, perhaps it is just the media that is keeping this story going or perhaps comapnies are trying to be as “honest” as possible. But I won’t be eating beef or any red meat for the time being.
How many people in Europe will forget this situation in a month or more and they will be back to buying frozen “beef” dinners again? The average consumer doesn’t have a long memory and there will be a short-term dip in beef sales, but it won’t last long.
I read today that despite all the publicity about horse meat, some bulk beef shipments still are containing a certain percentage of horse meat. I am sure that the only companies that will suffer will be the final producers like Nestle.
First the fish is not fish and then beef is not beef……when are we going to find out the tomatoes are not tomatoes. Does anyone else get the feeling that this is a crisis that is the making of the food industry at the expense of the consumer?
The problems with the horsemeat contamination of beef products seems to be hear for the long run. Today it was announced that IKEA’s been selling meatballs that have a certain percentage of horsemeat. I sense that this is not a recent thing, but something that has been going on with beef products for years if not decades. What happened before everyone started to DNA test their beefburgers?