Horsemeat fiasco - Customers paramount

Mislabelling meat products as beef when they contain horsemeat is rightly deplored, but this could have welcome consequences in making people more conscious of the need to be aware of the contents of packaged foods.

The criminal mislabelling of anything is particularly serious, but the use of horsemeat may not have involved any health issues.

The discovery of the horsemeat in Ireland sparked British health authorities to examine their own meat products, and they discovered that the Findus lasagne bolognese they tested actually contained 100% horsemeat. This may not necessarily have had any health implications, if it did not contain phenylbutazone. Now they are testing that meat for that veterinary drug.