ok lets forget just horse-meat and look at the cross contamination [traces of other meats] so you go to your local butcher and get 1kg of mince beef, then have it tested you will undoubtedly find DNA traces of pork,lamb,possibly chicken,turkey,rabbit and goat [depending on the product range of your butcher] this cross contamination will be caused by using the same mincer,knives [more so] saws on the same block to cut and fillet the products, but cross contamination dosn't start there many of the sides [or flitches] will already be contaminated at the slaughter house where they use chain saw type implements to half the carcases,
none of this cross contamination is harmful to the body, it may have religious or moral implications but that's all

Back to Horse meat, this is better for you than beef and other farmed meats as it contains less fat.

I was going to buy some beef mince yesterday to make some chilli con carne but decided on lamb mince instead.
I made sure it had the red tractor icon on the pack as this ensures it is what it says it is.

Unless the horsemeat contains 'Bute' of course!

Re beef mince - it's something I only buy occasionally but enough to make me decide that in future I'm going to mince or grind my own by buying something like chuck or skirt for the few times I make a chilli, cottage pie or spaghetti sauce. And I'll probably buy that from my local independent butcher in the first place.

SM

My local butcher said yesterday that he has never been so busy and this is normally a quiet time ofbyear.

its definitely helped independent butchers.

I found this video very interesting the other day.
It seems the horsemeat scandal has been around for a very long time in UK - since at least 1948

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-horsemeat-scandal

I cant really see any difference in eating horse to eating cow meat so it doesn't really bother me to be honest. I think it's a mislabelling and misrepresentation issue.

Weird how Brits and Americans won't eat 'pretty animals' like horses, rabbits etc but happy to eat ugly ones like chickens, pigs, cows seems hypocritical to me, no wonder vegetarians make ironic comments at picky meat eaters.

I've quite enjoyed all the horse and burger jokes on t'intenet about it and seems like millions of others have from the way they are joining in, which kind of shows how seriously folk are taking it (not).

Years ago when there was a butcher nearby I used to pick a piece of beef and he would mince it in front of me, I guess that is the only way you are really going to know what you have got, if it has been going on for ten years or so we are all still here to tell the tale and it hasn't killed us off, so couldn't have been that bad for us.

Years ago hubby ordered a T Bone steak in Tenerife, he said that judging by the size of it it must have been horse - he still ate it though

dont mind wheather its horse meat or beef ...I dont think the problem is so much as its horse or cow ?? its the fact they charge you for beef which id more expensive than horse. unless its shergar !!!!

I havent changed how I eat. It's still meat as others have said its just the fact we are being charged for beef when its not 100% beef.

I would say i must of eaten loads of horse and turned out ok but then again..