A whole lot of horse

The meat substitution scandal in Europe is exposing the complexity and nasty underbelly of the food supply chain as well as the way the food industry is presented in the media.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that horse meat was relabelled as beef as a simple, financially motivated fraud. Whether this ‘relabelling’ happened at the Romanian abattoirs, the Cypriot or Dutch trading companies or the two main French firms involved, Comigel and Spanghero, will ultimately be revealed. But it is the companies like Findus, that have been forced to recall tonnes of their products from supermarket shelves, whose reputations are suffering.

The UK public is asking, “Why weren’t the companies checking their meat for horse contamination?” and believing that the food processors have failed to follow a suitable testing protocol. This is a very unfair view. In the UK, processors are obliged to test their product on a regular basis for some contaminants - such as pork. This is quite reasonable, as pork is an ingredient used in many plants and could quite easily contaminate supposedly pork-free products.

But horse meat is not a standard ingredient in UK and manufacturers would have no reason to anticipate horse meat in their plants. They have signed deals from their suppliers that not only specify that the meat is beef but often the countries where this product can be sourced.

Taking the argument, that the companies should have been checking for horse contamination, to its logical conclusion means that these companies should also be checking for camel and yak and maybe kangaroo and squirrel - a silly assertion.

The mainstream media coverage of the ‘horse meat scandal’ has been interesting to read. In Patrick Sawer, Bianca Toma and Peter Allen’s article in the UK Telegraph they assert, “In 2011, more than 6779 million tons [sic] of this meat has been shipped either frozen or chilled to countries such as France, Belgium, Italy and Bulgaria for processing.”

Really? 6779 million tonnes? Bearing in mind that in 2010-11 Australia exported 937,301 tonnes of beef and veal, this figure for horse meat from Romania seems a touch inflated.

Mind you, other articles have been just as fascinating. One claimed that there is a Transylvanian horse mafia operating and another blamed a law banning horsedrawn vehicles from Romanian roads.

The truth is going to be much more prosaic - simple greed and fraud. The legal battles will now continue for years and, sadly, the public will lament the failure of the food industry to control its supply chains and guarantee traceability.