Why is it all right to eat pigs or cows, but not horse meat?
I am sure many readers will have been understandably shocked by revelations about horse meat being found in beef burgers at several national supermarket chains.
However, it does throw up some other issues, including why the thought of eating horses repulses us but as a nation we think nothing of eating cows.
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What really is the difference between a horse and a cow? Or a pig, sheep or chicken for that matter?
All are sentient animals that value their lives – lives that are routinely cut short after no more money can be made from them. Horses are often killed after their owners tire of them or they become too old to perform.
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With farmed animals, it is as soon as they have reached their slaughter weight at weeks or months old.
In the case of dairy cows, they are sent to the abattoir once their milk yield drops.
This is often at four or five years old, despite having a natural lifespan of 25 years.
Much of the meat in beef burgers for sale in British supermarkets will come from exhausted dairy cows.
This is not to say that horses do not suffer – they do.
Viva! has campaigned for years against the trade in live horses, forced to endure gruelling journeys from Poland to the slaughterhouses of Italy.
However, if the thought of eating horse troubles you, please spare a thought for the 958 million other animals killed for the British dinner table last year.
If you care about animals – all animals – then the best way to show that is to simply stop eating them.
For free help in saving the lives of animals by going veggie, contact Viva! on 0117 944 1000 or e-mail:
info@viva.org.uk.
Justin Kerswell, Viva! campaigns manager, Bristol.
I fail to see what all the fuss is about concerning burgers which contained horse and/or pig meat, apart from misleading labelling.
If people knew the ingredients of many processed meat products they would be horrified.
The Food Standards Agency has said there is no safety risk to consumers.
Muslim and Jewish consumers may be upset if they inadvertently ate pork, but as far as I know the burgers were not kosher or halal and, therefore, were unlikely to have been eaten by strict Jews or Muslims.
An animal is an animal. A life is a life whether that life belongs to a pig, cow, chicken, turkey, lamb or horse – or a cat or dog for that matter. If people are distressed that they may have unknowingly eaten horse meat, they should question why they eat meat at all.
Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.
Readers will have been sickened to learn some beef burgers sold by leading supermarkets contained almost 30 per cent horse meat.
They may be more shocked that in 2011, 8,118 horses were slaughtered in the UK.
The majority would have been ordinary riding ponies, while 1,127 were thoroughbreds, discarded by the racing industry.
If that is a sombre thought, then reflect for a moment on the animals which make up the remaining 70 per cent of that burger.
Each year in the UK alone, about one billion animals (not including fish) are farmed and killed for food – about three million of that number are cows.
Animal Aid's website has recent footage of cows, pigs, goats, sheep and horses, all taken inside UK slaughterhouses, and the grim truth is plain to see.
All animals feel fear and pain. If you care about those horses which were killed for their meat, then please spare a thought for all the other animals and make the compassionate decision – adopt an animal-free diet.
Free information and advice is available from Animal Aid:
www.animalaid.org.uk
Fiona Pereira, campaigner, Animal Aid, Tonbridge.
15 Comments
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by 8livesdown
Sunday, January 27 2013, 3:34PM
“"self loving", yes, but only on weekends, "throbbing", I don't know about that, I'm more 'wiggle wiggle' than throb to be honest. I lived in Germany for a while btw, it was where I developed my sense of humour, those crazy Germans!
I fear we're going off topic now and I know how people hate that so i shall attempt to curtail your obvious floozie-esq flirtations, by saying that I remain convinced that Horses are rubbish. I would expand that arguement but i think it'd be a waste of time, you clearly only want me for my body and, frankly, i've had enough of that.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE, FREEDOM FOR TOOTING, etc.”
by karinfall1955
Sunday, January 27 2013, 10:59AM
“@8livesdown. And you are obviously a fun loving, self loving throbbing little bundle of fun. The part of your comment that was juvenile (note correct spelling) was about hating horses and saying they are useless. Are you a frustrated stand up or something? If so I think you are destined to remain frustrated... As towhether I am fun or otherwise, you would never ever know.
I'm not fighting battles, I'm airing my opinion, verstehen sie?”
by 8livesdown
Sunday, January 27 2013, 7:31AM
“Ahh lighten up you big sook, this ISN'T a forum, it's the letters page on the website of the local rag, nothing more, so you just crack on fighting your battles and scoring as many points as you need to in order to put right whatever it is that's missing in your life, nobody cares.
"this is a forum where people air their views, nothing more"
Other than the already corrected error relating to the forum, i find it amusing that you're allowed to air your opinion but you feel justified in dismissing mine as juvinile, i take it i'm only allowed to air my views if they conform to your own standard? Sorry love, i'll write what i like, when i like, to whom i like, how i like, and if you don't like it, you just feel free to ignore me.
"PS your spelling could do with a little improvement"
As could your holier than thou attitude my little sugarlump, i bet you're just a bundle of fun to be around.
THIS POST HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE PEOPLE'S FRONT OF JUDEA AND NOT THE JUDEAN PEOPLE'S FRONT.”
by karinfall1955
Saturday, January 26 2013, 6:27PM
“@8livesdown. What a very silly juvenile comment. Did you think you were being witty? No-one is trying to dictate to you, this is a forum where people air their views, nothing more, nothing less.
PS your spelling could do with a little improvement.”
by 8livesdown
Saturday, January 26 2013, 2:48PM
“I like eating meat, i eat a lot of meat, i have two boys, one of whom is old enough to eat meat, i tell him that Beef is Moo Cow, that Pork and Bacon is Piggy, that Lamb is Baa Lamb and that Chicken is, well, Chicken... he eats meat, his brother will eat meat when he's old enough to as well. If they choose not to eat meat when they're older that'll be their choice - did you see the words i used there? "Choice" and "Choose" - I won't be dictated to by anyone and if i choose to eat meat, that's my business.
Now, i'm forming a Carrot support group and a Cabbage help-line, who's with me? We need to stop these evil vegitarians who think nothing of planting tiny, helpless seeds, who force them to grow whether they like it or not and who then think nothing of ripping them from the Earth in order to apease their barbaric appetites.
Eat Moo Cows not Spuds!
As for the issue regarding Horse meat. I can't stand Horses! I think they're utterlly useless creatures and i'm all in favour of knocking them bandy so i can chow down on them. Anyone know where i can buy some? Tesco seem to be fresh out.”
by anobserver
Friday, January 25 2013, 11:14AM
“Is it not a simple choice for anyone to choose what they eat and read any labeling of the produce if appropriate.If someone wants horse burger they should be able to find it/order it.I have eaten horse,as a dare,in France.It was ok,but I was aware of what I WAS EATING.I have eaten,in my travels, hedgehog,badger,camel,zebra,ostrich and, unknown at the time,rat meat{explained at time as "bush meat" as like rabbits}which left me in hospital.I did avoid dog .Did enjoy kebabs in Malaya at steam tables.Was explained as chicken pason nez.Very nice.Few days later was explained that in England you call them parsons nose !!!”
by brewer23
Friday, January 25 2013, 10:24AM
“The burgers had traces of horse (and pig) DNA, which may simply mean that the supplier had been preparing horse meat in the same machines and had not cleaned them properly, there could have been horse meat being prepared nearby and hence horse DNA may have been in the atmosphere in the form of an aerosol that settled on the burgers as they were being prepared, or the manufacturer may have incorporated horsemeat into the mix deliberately or accidentally.
This is ****agous to the situation with chocolate bars that have to have an allergy warning on them because they have been prepared in the same area as nut containing products, it doesn't mean that that particular bar has nuts in it but there could be traces of nut in it, if the bars were forensically examined for nut DNA then it would probably be found.
Were the labelling regulations actually broken? Providing the beef content was the minimum stated on the label and the other ingredients were present (quantities are not given). They certainly are not sold as 100% beef.
Why is it considered wrong for one mammal to eat another? Lions do it all the time, they don't have any sentimental attachment to the zebra or wildebeeste; neither does the killer whale and the seal.
Our objections are based on sentimentality, which is why western europeans are unlikely to eat dogs, cats or cavies, as we have these as pets, yet in other parts of the world they are eaten. Cattle, sheep and pigs were domesticated to be a source of food as well as clothing. Horses domesticated to do work and provide food.
http://tinyurl.com/a85pydd”
by karinfall1955
Thursday, January 24 2013, 11:53PM
“@graydjames. On the contrary I am not sure 'modern' man would have the stomach to do so. We have come some way from the loin cloth clad club swinging early man. 'We' like our meat packed in polystyrene trays and covered in cling film and disassociate ourselves from it having been a living breathing mammal which cares for its young.”
by graydjames
Thursday, January 24 2013, 9:33PM
“If we had to Karinfall we would kill the animal ourselves just as early man did. Your argument has no logic whatsoever.”
by karinfall1955
Thursday, January 24 2013, 8:08PM
“I just find eating meat rather primitive. It is ok to eat meat if you can honestly state you would be prepared to kill the animal yourself; instead we utilise 'contract' killers and turn a blind eye to the practices in abattoirs. We are all guilty of hypocrisy on occasions but this is such an obvious example. Pig, horse, cow they are all sentient beings.”