HORSE MEAT SCANDAL

Horse Meat Scandal



Horse Meat Scandal

Introduction

This assignment is based on Horse Meat Scandal. The case of horse meat begins on 17 September 2012, when a health inspector in Newry (Northern Ireland) finds a problem with the labelling and packaging of a stock of frozen meat, the meat belonged to McAdams Company based in Ireland. These days, horse meat scandal is on its height in the food sector of entire Europe. Food industry has been hit by this issue very badly. Many big food retail companies are being suffered by this issue. Story reveals the presence of adulteration in beef. Samples were collected from several restaurants. Laboratory tests showed surprise results and found the presence of horse meat in beef. Few samples also gave signs of pork in beef products. Test results showed around 29% to 89% presence of horse DNA in beef items. European society has taken this issue seriously. Government officials also have taken the issue into consideration. European media are taking this story to the level of crisis. Big giants in the food industry are making devastating losses because civilian community has started forgo the beef items of the restaurant. Issue is not about just having the adulteration of horse meat but the companies' claim which are selling the meat by labelling as beef (The Guardian, 2013).

Horse meat and pork are totally prohibited in some religions and sinful to consume of such prohibited meat. Horse meat is not directly harmful for humans, but few horses are injected some drugs which could be harmful for humans. Companies are not giving satisfactory statements in this regard. Some companies are directly blaming their suppliers; few belong to different countries. Many companies are giving blame to the retailers. One of the suppliers of meat in Europe stated earlier that horse meat was sent properly to clients with appropriate labelling and mismanagement is on the other side of the hand. Government is promising to resolve this issue very soon. Media and critics are also playing their vital role by creating hype on this issue (Lessons for Asia from the Horse Meat Scandal, 2013).

The discovery of horse meat gradually reaches the level of a broad food security crisis that not only reveals the complexity and lack of transparency in our food chain, but also the limits of European food law. Indeed, although the EU rules make it illegal to label a product as "beef" if it contains a different kind of meat, it is up to Member States (not the EU) to implement the ban.

The number of European countries has found the products stamped as pure beef contains in fact the horse with discoveries revealed in Norway and Austria. The case, which was hitherto restricted to ground beef sold to the United Kingdom and to Ireland, became Europe with the discovery of traces of horse in beef products, including noodles, sold in the United Kingdom, but also in France, Germany and Switzerland. After the discovery in the UK, large amounts ...