Dispatches/Panorama Horsemeat Expose

[armaghniac]

Must be a few horses down in Tipp....

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/operations-suspended-at-tipperary-plant-exporting-horse-meat-labelled-as-beef-29088715.html

[muppet]

Must be a few horses down in Tipp....

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/operations-suspended-at-tipperary-plant-exporting-horse-meat-labelled-as-beef-29088715.html

Our beef industry is beginning to look like our banking industry. The failure of the regulators in both industries is striking.

http://bfmeats.ie

The above is the website of the Thomastown factory of B&F, which is not the one involved. Click 'About Us' and you see the following info on both 'The Team' and 'Accounts'.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque sem urna, ultrices sit amet blandit luctus, lobortis sed metus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed suscipit sem nulla. Integer et libero elit.

Under farmers they have this:
The quality of our product is key to our success. To ensure we can supply the finest meats  to our customers we  build up a relationship with all our farmers . We  inspect their animals  and  ensure they share our vision of well-cared for and naturally reared animals.  All of our product is fully traceable back to each individual farm partner.

Seems they are happy to fire out any old guff.

[muppet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21559451

Give horsemeat-tainted food to poor - German minister

Germany's development minister has suggested food tainted with horsemeat should be distributed to the poor.

Dirk Niebel said he supported the proposal by a member of the governing CDU party, and concluded: "We can't just throw away good food."

The opposition dismissed the idea, but a priest said it should be considered.

Meanwhile, traces of horse DNA have been found in six tonnes of minced beef and 2,400 packs of lasagne bolognese seized from a company in Italy.

The products were packaged by Italian group Primia, which is based in the town of San Giovanni in Persiceto, near the city of Bologna.

The health ministry said Primia had used meat from another company in Brescia and originally supplied by two other companies, also based there.

It is the first positive test in Italy since the scandal erupted last month.

Earlier, the Italian authorities said they had found no traces of horsemeat in beef products seized this week from the Swiss food giant, Nestle.


"To throw away food that could be consumed without risk is equally bad as false labelling and cannot be a solution"

The health ministry said the 26 tons of cooked and frozen mince beef meals would be returned. A Nestle spokesman welcomed the decision.

On Monday, Nestle announced that it was withdrawing two types of beef pasta meals from supermarkets in Italy and Spain after test revealed traces of horse DNA.

A problem was identified with a supplier in Germany, H J Schypke, it said.

Another German supplier, Dreistem, has been blamed for recalls of tinned goulash sold by the Lidl in Germany and Scandinavia, while a third, Vossko, has been accused by Liechtenstein's Hiclona of supplying beef tainted by horse for a pasta product withdrawn in Austria and Germany. All three companies have blamed their own suppliers.

On Friday evening, Germany's consumer affairs ministry announced that it had now found traces of horse DNA in 67 of 830 food products tested.

'Absurd'
On Saturday, a prominent member of the governing CDU party, Hartwig Fischer, told Bild newspaper that products tainted with horsemeat should be distributed to the poor.

The BBC's Steve Evans in Berlin says others have echoed the sentiment, including Mr Niebel, who said there were 800 million people in the world who were hungry.

In mid-January, Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by UK supermarket chains
Subsequently, up to 100% horsemeat found in several ranges of prepared frozen food in Britain, France and Sweden
Concerns that a drug used to treat horses, and which may be harmful to humans, could be in food chain
Meat traced from France through Cyprus and The Netherlands to Romanian abattoirs
Investigation suggests adulteration was not accidental but the work of a criminal conspiracy
"Even in Germany, unfortunately there are people for whom it is financially tight, even for food. I think that we can't just throw away good food here in Germany."

The opposition has dismissed the idea as "absurd" and an insult to poor people, our correspondent adds, but Prelate Bernhard Felmberg, the senior representative of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), has backed the proposal.

"We as a Church find the throw-away mentality in our society concerning. How and whether to distribute the products in question would have to be examined," the priest said.

"But to throw away food that could be consumed without risk is equally bad as false labelling and cannot be a solution."

Meanwhile, France's agriculture ministry said several horse carcasses containing the drug phenylbutazone, also known as bute, had probably entered the human food chain.

A ministry spokesman told the AFP news agency that it was alerted by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) that six carcasses had been exported to France in January, but that the meat had already been processed. There was only a "minor" health risk, he added.

Earlier, three major French food companies have agreed to use only French beef in their products.

Findus - one of the firms at the heart of the scandal - and retailers Carrefour and Intermarche announced at the French Agricultural Salon that they would start using labels saying "100% French" from March.

French President Francois Hollande has said he wants mandatory labelling of the origin of meat used in processed food products. However, only a change in European Union legislation can compel manufacturers.

European agriculture ministers are expected to discuss origin labelling and meat traceability at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.

[lawnseed]

channel 5 @ 10pm horsemeat and other scandals

[macdanger2]

It must be 15-20 years since they got rid of most of the small abbatoirs in the country as a result of new regulations which the butchers weren't able to meet - time to ease back on those regulations and have more of a local food cycle??

[LeoMc]

It must be 15-20 years since they got rid of most of the small abbatoirs in the country as a result of new regulations which the butchers weren't able to meet - time to ease back on those regulations and have more of a local food cycle??

Thats is just what we need, less regulation in the industry. 

How would we weed out the cowboys?

[macdanger2]

Thats is just what we need, less regulation in the industry. 

How would we weed out the cowboys?

You're right, the current regulations are working out really well for everyone 

For beef in particular, there should be no reason anyone in Ireland eats beef from cattle anything more than 50 miles away. If cattle were bought and slaughtered locally, it would be pretty easy to find out who's buying good cattle, who's buying poor cattle and who's buying up horses!!

[Canalman]

Can anyone explain to me how it is economical to truck/ ship etc horsemeat from Eastern Europe to here in Ireland to (ahem)  pad out our beef products? Diesel, trucking, shipping, labour costs etc must be factored into it.
Just doesn't make sense to me.

[omagh_gael]

Can anyone explain to me how it is economical to truck/ ship etc horsemeat from Eastern Europe to here in Ireland to (ahem)  pad out our beef products? Diesel, trucking, shipping, labour costs etc must be factored into it.
Just doesn't make sense to me.

In Lawnseed's post (#16) he said horse meat is available at £20 per tonne, now I'm not aware of the price of beef per tonne but there must still be a large margin even when you factor in transport/labour costs.

[muppet]

Thats is just what we need, less regulation in the industry. 

How would we weed out the cowboys?

You're right, the current regulations are working out really well for everyone 

For beef in particular, there should be no reason anyone in Ireland eats beef from cattle anything more than 50 miles away. If cattle were bought and slaughtered locally, it would be pretty easy to find out who's buying good cattle, who's buying poor cattle and who's buying up horses!!

This is hardly a logical argument for less regulation.

Our 'light touch' regulation in finance meant we joined the PIIGS rather than the other Euro countries after the financial crisis. The food industry scandal is beginning to follow their lead. We seem to be centrally involved, again, thanks to our shoddy version of regulation. I can think of other industries/areas where Ireland is rather pathetic when it comes to monitoring/regulation, for example Construction, Aviation, Health, Protection of children, License Awarding etc etc.

[trileacman]

Thats is just what we need, less regulation in the industry. 

How would we weed out the cowboys?

You're right, the current regulations are working out really well for everyone 

For beef in particular, there should be no reason anyone in Ireland eats beef from cattle anything more than 50 miles away. If cattle were bought and slaughtered locally, it would be pretty easy to find out who's buying good cattle, who's buying poor cattle and who's buying up horses!!

This is hardly a logical argument for less regulation.

Our 'light touch' regulation in finance meant we joined the PIIGS rather than the other Euro countries after the financial crisis. The food industry scandal is beginning to follow their lead. We seem to be centrally involved, again, thanks to our shoddy version of regulation. I can think of other industries/areas where Ireland is rather pathetic when it comes to monitoring/regulation, for example Construction, Aviation, Health, Protection of children, License Awarding etc etc.

The farmer is the one who suffers under the yoke of "regulation", Larry and his friends in high places do what they f**king like. There is currently over-regulation at farm level and as is apparent a criminal lack of regulation at coporate level.

I know of a case of a farmer who was recently given a jail term for cruelty to animals. I also think of the case of that Dublin businessman who was initially given 6 years for a tax fraud which he admitted to, paid back and helped the investigation.

How many of those people who have been endangering lives with the use of horsemeat have been arrested or faced with charges? Make no mistake, the use of undeclared horse-meat is so widespread across Europe now that it is almost certain that someone has encountered a residue of phenylbutazone leading to an acute, aplastic anaemia. Yet no-one has been arrested, no offices searched or files taken. Instead an "investigation" so slow that any incriminating evidence has had time to be destroyed or removed.

The actions of these people is akin to me selling sugar that is likely to be tainted with warfarin or making bread from flour laced with barbituates. Yet no-one will face charges, more likely than not if they keep their trap shut they'll keep their jobs.

One rule for the rich and one for the poor.

[muppet]

Thats is just what we need, less regulation in the industry. 

How would we weed out the cowboys?

You're right, the current regulations are working out really well for everyone 

For beef in particular, there should be no reason anyone in Ireland eats beef from cattle anything more than 50 miles away. If cattle were bought and slaughtered locally, it would be pretty easy to find out who's buying good cattle, who's buying poor cattle and who's buying up horses!!

This is hardly a logical argument for less regulation.

Our 'light touch' regulation in finance meant we joined the PIIGS rather than the other Euro countries after the financial crisis. The food industry scandal is beginning to follow their lead. We seem to be centrally involved, again, thanks to our shoddy version of regulation. I can think of other industries/areas where Ireland is rather pathetic when it comes to monitoring/regulation, for example Construction, Aviation, Health, Protection of children, License Awarding etc etc.

The farmer is the one who suffers under the yoke of "regulation", Larry and his friends in high places do what they f**king like. There is currently over-regulation at farm level and as is apparent a criminal lack of regulation at coporate level.

I know of a case of a farmer who was recently given a jail term for cruelty to animals. I also think of the case of that Dublin businessman who was initially given 6 years for a tax fraud which he admitted to, paid back and helped the investigation.

How many of those people who have been endangering lives with the use of horsemeat have been arrested or faced with charges? Make no mistake, the use of undeclared horse-meat is so widespread across Europe now that it is almost certain that someone has encountered a residue of phenylbutazone leading to an acute, aplastic anaemia. Yet no-one has been arrested, no offices searched or files taken. Instead an "investigation" so slow that any incriminating evidence has had time to be destroyed or removed.

The actions of these people is akin to me selling sugar that is likely to be tainted with warfarin or making bread from flour laced with barbituates. Yet no-one will face charges, more likely than not if they keep their trap shut they'll keep their jobs.

One rule for the rich and one for the poor.

That is why we need more regulation, more staff for regulators and in particular more legislation (more regulations).

[trileacman]

After all the regulation up to now turning out to be f**king useless, you want to increase the cost to the taxpayer and workload on the producers by bringing in more of the failed regulation that has been proved to be nothing more than window dressing?

We don't need regulation to arrest people who have endangered the lives of every man, woman and child in the public eating processed meat. We just need a department/government with some balls.

[lawnseed]

heres who gets hurt...

ryevally foods in carrickmacross part of the kerry group put their line workers on a three day week due to the drop in demand for ready made meals. managers they still need to come in everyday even though theres no one to manage. but managers know things so its best to keep them sweet

[muppet]

After all the regulation up to now turning out to be f**king useless, you want to increase the cost to the taxpayer and workload on the producers by bringing in more of the failed regulation that has been proved to be nothing more than window dressing?

We don't need regulation to arrest people who have endangered the lives of every man, woman and child in the public eating processed meat. We just need a department/government with some balls.

Yes we do.

Look at this man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Neary_(surgeon)

IMHO he should be in jail. All we could do is strike him off due to a lack of legislation.