The next time you are enjoying a tasty beef burger, I want you to ask yourself, “am I eating horse?”. If you have eaten a beef product in Europe within the last few years, there’s a good chance that you did just that! That’s because a major horse meat scandal swept Europe in the last few years!
The horsemeat scandal began in Ireland when the local food safety authority found horse DNA in beef burgers. After this, investigators across Europe ramped up their efforts to test food and what they found was starting. Check out the above map to see where the epicenters of the scandal were! You can also review the timeline to see how it all unfolded.
In the UK, horse meat was found in a variety of products from famous retailers, such as Aldi and Tesco. In France, it was found that Spanghere was selling mislabeled meat to Comigel, who in turn (and unknowingly) used the horse meat to create a variety of products then sold to consumers. Horse meat was also found in products in Romania, though local authorities have noted that all orders were for horse meat.
Horse meat probably won’t affect your health, in fact it has lower cholesterol and fat than beef. Still, many people aren’t accustomed to the idea of eating horse meat. The meat is quite popular in Belgium, Russia, and Italy, however, and you if you are in one of these countries, you might even decide to get a bit adventurous and give it a try!
Anyways, check out this kick ass infographic from the Australian Institute of Food Safety. (And don’t waste your time trying to figure out why the land down under is so concerned with Europe’s affairs!).
