Give horsemeat-tainted food to poor - German minister

Ranicand · 24-02-2013 03:58AM #1

Germany's development minister has suggested that horsemeat mislabelled as beef 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.

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

I say put in on the menu for the European and all national parliaments.

JupiterKid · 24-02-2013 04:02AM

This statement reminds me of the infamous "let them eat cake" one attributed to the last French queen, Marie Antoinette.

If this man is so eager not to waste the dodgy horse meat then perhaps he can eat it.

Cavehill Red · 24-02-2013 04:05AM

Who says they haven't been giving it to the poor for years? Anyone remember those vile tins of beef the EU used to distribute from their infamous 'beef' mountain?

DrumSteve · 24-02-2013 04:07AM

Dont see the problem here, food is food. At least anyone eating it will know what they are eating.

Chuck Stone · 24-02-2013 04:08AM

Em.. 'don't waste food' seems like a good idea to me.

Wouldn't poor people be glad of it?

Truncheon Rouge · 24-02-2013 04:10AM

If its not toxic/harmful then go for it.
Ask a homeless/hungry person.

I don't eat beef myself (for some time now) but whats so disgusting about horse-meat vs cow meat.

people eat pig.

juice1304 · 24-02-2013 04:11AM

Send it all my way if there is no bute in it, I'm bleedn starving.

Smidge · 24-02-2013 04:11AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

This statement reminds me of the infamous "let them eat cake" one attributed to the last French queen, Marie Antoinette.

If this man is so eager not to waste the dodgy horse meat then perhaps he can eat it.

Psstt.....

You do know she didn't say that? :-)

marcsignal · 24-02-2013 04:14AM

looks like we've all been eating it for ages*

*unless you're vegetarian

Rasheed · 24-02-2013 04:23AM

Nothing wrong with it, as long as Bute isn't in it, as another poster said, it's a sin to throw it out.

I don't see the problem with people eating this, when they're aware what it it. I know I'd have no bother throwing it into a cottage pie etc.

Ruudi_Mentari · 24-02-2013 04:24AM

Truncheon Rouge wrote: »

If its not toxic/harmful then go for it.
Ask a homeless/hungry person.
.

a good number of them are barely conscious when they're eating anyhow, let alone of what they're eating so why not

.. why dont they re-label it horse and give it to em at a discount.

orestes · 24-02-2013 04:24AM

It's not bloody toxic, wasting that much food when there are people who would happily eat it is idiotic.

Ruudi_Mentari · 24-02-2013 04:27AM

Yeah it's silly. Give it up already..

Where To · 24-02-2013 04:27AM

Nothing wrong with horsemeat, I've eaten a lot smellier in my time

csallmighty · 24-02-2013 04:27AM

Its a good idea. Why not? If there is nothing wrong with it. Actually there is nothing wrong with it because we've been eating it for quite some time now.

And if they don't want it give it to me. I'll find a good place to put it.

* In ma belleh

Chuck Stone · 24-02-2013 04:30AM

Where To wrote: »

I've eaten a lot smellier in my time

Bearded clams?

Where To · 24-02-2013 04:33AM

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Bearded clams?

Something like that.

7 7 12 · 24-02-2013 04:36AM

juice1304 wrote: »

Send it all my way if there is no bute in it, I'm bleedn starving.

I say leave the bute in, if it's anything like ketamine I could save a fortune on my weekly drugs spend

Simi · 24-02-2013 04:56AM

I'm all for free BBQs for the needy.

Chuck Stone · 24-02-2013 05:04AM

Simi wrote: »

I'm all for free BBQs for the needy.

COMMUNIST. :mad:

iamstop · 24-02-2013 07:43AM

I deffo think this stock should be given away. No one should have to pony up for this mis-labeled equine delight.

Grayson · 24-02-2013 08:25AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

If this man is so eager not to waste the dodgy horse meat then perhaps he can eat it.

To be fair, he probably has. We all probably have.

It's a good point though. What to do with tons of food that's technically ok to eat? As far as I'm aware, the only thing wrong is that there's trace amounts of horse. But it's still edible, it just can't be labeled as beef.

It would be wasteful to just throw it away.

Cookie_Monster · 24-02-2013 10:02AM

Truncheon Rouge wrote: »

people eat pig.

because it's awesome.

The only thing better than bacon is more bacon

Fr_Dougal · 24-02-2013 10:19AM

It's a bit disturbing to see some peoples attitude to this horsemeat scandal, you'd swear this horsemeat was prime cuts of horse that has been specially raised for consumption. The harsh reality is that the majority of this meat probably comes from knackers yards(no, I'm not referring to travellers) where carcasses have been picked up to be destroyed.

Rasheed · 24-02-2013 10:38AM

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

It's a bit disturbing to see some peoples attitude to this horsemeat scandal, you'd swear this horsemeat was prime cuts of horse that has been specially raised for consumption. The harsh reality is that the majority of this meat probably comes from knackers yards(no, I'm not referring to travellers) where carcasses have been picked up to be destroyed.

Well you'd also have to wonder about some of our beef too. If you buy some cheap frozen burgers or lasagne, it's hardly going to be pure, grass fed, steak mince either.

It's the remnants of whatever's left when the animal has literally been stripped of anything useful.

minidazzler · 24-02-2013 11:11AM

JupiterKid wrote: »

This statement reminds me of the infamous "let them eat cake" one attributed to the last French queen, Marie Antoinette.

If this man is so eager not to waste the dodgy horse meat then perhaps he can eat it.

That's a misattributed statement. Never was said by Marie Antoinette...

And what exactly is wrong with his suggestion? It IS good food, perfectly edible, and simply mislabeled and misrepresented rather than bad for us. A lot of people ate it for a long while.

It's hardly better to leave a few dozen tonnes worth of perfectly edible food go to waste? It should be distributed to soup kitchens and such.

UCDVet · 24-02-2013 11:13AM

Rasheed wrote: »

Well you'd also have to wonder about some of our beef too. If you buy some cheap frozen burgers or lasagne, it's hardly going to be pure, grass fed, steak mince either.

It's the remnants of whatever's left when the animal has literally been stripped of anything useful.

That's fine.

So long as it's labelled correctly and I'm not paying for pure, grass fed, steak mince.

snubbleste · 24-02-2013 11:22AM

Well said that minister.
An Irish minister would say Send it to Africa..

Roger_007 · 24-02-2013 11:29AM

If you leave the hyphen out of the title of this thread, then I agree wholeheartedly.

Rasheed · 24-02-2013 11:30AM

UCDVet wrote: »

That's fine.

So long as it's labelled correctly and I'm not paying for pure, grass fed, steak mince.

What I'm saying is that just because the horse meat may be coming from a knackery, doesn't mean that it's going to be bad or disgusting. Chances are the actual beef in those cheap frozen dinners is the shiite on the ground of factories anyway.

Yes, the whole a scandal is ridiculous that it was wrongly labeled but it doesn't mean that the horse meat should be thrown out.

Reekwind · 24-02-2013 11:31AM

csallmighty wrote: »

Its a good idea. Why not?

There are two problems:

The first is the broader issue. For most people the problem was not that they were eating horse but that they're eating misidentified meat of unknown origin that has illegally made its way into the food chain. We simply don't know to what degree this meat is dangerous

But the particular problem with this minister, and some of the posts in this thread, is the casual snobbery on display. If this food is good enough for the poor to eat then it's good enough to be stocked in Tesco. There is something badly wrong with the idea that we give horsemeat (or, potentially dangerous unidentified foodstuffs) to the poor while the better off dine on safe, certified beef

Give horsemeat-tainted food to poor - German minister

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