So what is this whole horse meat thing all about anyway?

Horse meat is just one of many meats that are regularly eaten throughout the world and causes no harm to those consuming it. It is however, not a meat that is used in food production within Australia and other developed countries, as there are chemicals used on horses that may cause harm to humans and it is also unacceptable to the community to eat this meat..

Businesses can only add meats that are approved for use in this country and that approval is shown in the Food Standards Code. The fundamental principle is that if the law does not allow for something to be used as food, then it cannot be used. This principle also applies in the UK, where this horse meat scandal has blown up.

The food law in all developed countries also has a clear labelling requirement that all ingredients in a food must be shown on the packaging.

The situation is that somehow a stock of horse meat from somewhere has found it’s way into food products which have no labelling showing that it is there.

There are three questions that have to be answered to bring back consumer confidence in the food industry;

• How did it get there?
• Is it a cover up because there is nothing on labels to declare it?
• Are there any health implications if the products are eaten?

The issue of horse meat being identified as being in some foods in the UK is significantly bigger than it seems at first. This issue has not only specific business implications but national and internationals impacts as well.

For horse meat to get into the human food chain, means that there are systems which have just simply failed not only within specific businesses but within the food industry as a whole.

There will be a strong investigation into this situation and it is already obvious that heads will roll when the mystery of how and why this happened eventually becomes clear. However we should not expect this mystery to be solved rapidly and the results will echo around the UK’s food industry and those around the world. There have already been calls for more regulation and monitoring by governments.

This article was written by Rachelle Williams – The Green Food Safety Coach, for Food Safety Australia.