NO ACTION TAKEN ON HORSE MEAT USED IN BEEF PRODUCTS

For all we know it still could go on. EU demands proper labelling but Cameron ignores it. There was not on prosecution.

It had been six months since the horse meat scandal was revealed by tests in the Republic of Ireland.  Horse meat was added in packages labelled 100 per cent beef mince.

MPs raised the matter in the House of Common and questioned why there had not been any prosecution since the discovery in January 2013. Apparently it spread right across Europe and involved big supermarkets chains Liddle, Aldi, Tesco, Birds Eye and Iceland plus it had been found in beef products and school meals.  The scandal in the UK and Ireland has still not been given a full account or being dealt with accordingly the illegal trade.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affair Committee explained that it is evidentially a complex network of companies trading and misleading beef and beef products which is fraudulent. The head of the committee Anne McIntosh pointed out further there is a slow process of the investigation, prosecution and assurance of eliminating the contamination.  Why are the responsible politicians dragging their feet when it is a criminal act to add horse meat when it states 100 per cent beef?

The Food Standard Agency is also lucking behind its responsibility and has not the effect required. It should have the power to investigate more regular tests which were obviously not done for quite some time. Let’s face it; it is the FSA sole purpose to ensure the food is not contaminated.  Again the government is lagging behind on its responsibilities especially Prime Minister David Cameron should have ensured that strong measures were taken immediately and in every way.

MPs were informed that in EU-tests 14 out of 836 tests on Horse Meat from the UK showed positive containing the pain killer bute. This is really the main concern about the whole scandal. It is not the Horse Meat as such which is dangerous but the pain killer it could contain. Bute gets injected in Race Horses or other Sports with horses to kill pain if they are insured. Apparently it is quite widely used to enable horses being put back on races or other sport activities.

Needless to say the injection must be very powerful to have an effect on a horse and it has been established that it is very harmful to humans. It can cause heart -, kidney - or liver damage or failure.

It is also known that not many horses live their lives out on green pastures after they get past their best in performing.  It gives an idea of how many horses being killed before their time and horse meat being used in products. Therefore it is incredible that the committee insists horse meat were found only in “small” numbers of beef products but demanded that a regular testing should be enforced on all meat and meat based products which includes ready meals and frozen meat products. This demand also came from the MPs.

The current scandal also shows a number of loopholes in the horse passport and movement which needs to be closed and properly monitored.