Intensive media coverage of the horse meat in our food scandal seems to be on the decline. For me the story is never ending. The levels of outrage that surround this scoop seem strangely disproportionate to the real crimes committed at the cost of the animals involved. As a ‘free’ nation we must be informed about ingredients in our food. We have a ‘right to know.’ Caught up in the furore and excitement I took a trip to my freezer and studied the back of a few packets that were to hand. Posh brand Beef Lasagne. Now there lies a tale or maybe tail.
Ingredients: Beef 27% Whole milk 18% cooked free range egg pasta 18% Water Onions Medium Fat Hard cheese2 % Carrots Mature Cheddar Cheese 1%. So what happened to the other 34%? There is an additional list tomato puree oregano ground black pepper rosemary ground nutmeg ground white pepper ground bay leaves. That cannot be the missing 34% surely. 34% of mostly ground herbs and spices are unlikely to bulk out this product so what can the unlisted 34% be. My imagination runs riot at this stage. Horsemeat, dog sinew, rabbit’s ears, pig snouts, cat’s anuses who cares its all meat anyway what’s the difference? I’m sure the deceased animals in question all feel very equally aggrieved about it. Being hung upside down in front of your family, whilst begging for your life and having your throat slit whilst awake is always a downer.
The next packet is not a posh brand. Ultimate Breaded Chicken Nuggets (Yum) No doubt the chicken involved had an ultimate experience too. Made with 100% chicken breast fillet. It must be it says so on the packet. Ingredients list chicken breast 66% breadcrumb, vegetable oil, wheat flour, water, salt, maltodextrin , stabilizer, trisodium citrate ( at this point my automatic spell check gave up the ghost these terms are not recognisable by Microsoft so we are all doomed. There is more, white pepper potato starch yeast extract, citrus fibre, acidity regulator, sodium carbonate, whey powder, garlic extract. Then on to explain that the breadcrumb contains wheat flour, yeast, salt, dextrose, emulsifier, (mono and Di-Acetyl tartaric Esters of mono-and-Glycerides of fatty acids) vegetable Oil, Antioxidant (ascorbic acid). What on earth have we been eating for all these years? What have we done to our kids? However I digress and back to the chickens in their symbiotic nuggets, as a footnote we are informed that this is all produced from chickens from farms operating these particular suppliers’ livestock standards. Well I hope the chickens appreciate that one as well they must be thrilled. I have taken a look at these standards and will be happy to write my next letter based on this theme.
To date the government is refusing to test the many recalled ‘beef’ products for traces of any species other than horse and it will not reveal horse contamination if it falls below one per cent. Perhaps we quell the fears that might arise around this lack of certainty by comforting ourselves that someone qualified to deal with our food is out there doing just that and we let it pass. We seem too busy or complacent to ask the questions. I’m trying but beaver balls keep floating into my mind. Perhaps it is because I am a child of the 60’s or I’ve just ingested too much wood pulp along the way but I’m sure I read somewhere that if you saw ‘natural flavourings’ on a packet it might actually mean beaver balls. No surely not. Yep here it is. Google it you will find it under the heading of beaver balls. It generally sits next to the antifreeze that is placed in dog food and fat free cookies. Castoreum, yes that’s it. Castoreum comes out of a beavers behind. It’s not balls its anal glands well that’s a relief. Present in raspberry flavouring. All those herbal teas take on a new meaning. I tasked myself to day with finding a product that had ‘natural flavourings’ on the packet. I took a trip to a local health food store and found a Natural Raspberry Log. So is this ‘log’ naturally flavoured beaver anal sac flavoured log or has ‘natural raspberry flavour, mean what it says that real raspberries have found their way into the produce. The whole ‘log’ under scrutiny didn’t seem to contain very much liquorice at all its just liquorice extract with a whole load of sugar and, well you get the rest.
I just can’t help but wonder if we have brought this all on ourselves. At what point in our history did we stop challenging and just throw in the towel. I know from my own experience of our culture that right from childhood there was a feeling that prevailed that we were in good hands. I grew up believing that governments and their servants would not knowingly harm or deceive us. Now I don’t feel so secure. The flaccidity that seeps through the veins of our culture is no longer drugging me sufficiently to induce sleep. I am stirring. I suspect I am not alone. It’s not just the horsemeat thing; I mean that’s been going on for years. Does anyone own a pet dog? Have you ever really considered what you are feeding them? Apart from the antifreeze. Poor old nags have been disappearing from view for years without the luxury of passport control that the cows are given especially since BSC they just drop of the radar in their thousands.
You might have suspected it by now that I have an agenda. I have massive issues with the way we farm and slaughter our livestock. Stock that is alive. Actually they are animals that are alive. I have to also admit that the horsemeat scandal is quite convenient as far as it has grasped everyone’s attention in a way that I never could. I have wanted to say something about this for a long time. I wanted to write about the cruelty that takes place in our factory farms and within the dairy industry and expose all its dirty secrets. Then along came the horsemeat scandal. That opened up a little widow of interest amongst the populous. Perhaps the trades description violation and abject lies along with the deceit, crime and profiteering was a unique opportunity for folk like me to bring the rest of it to your attention. Hiding behind the horsemeat debate like a poor relation is the malpractice, brutality, and torture of our farm animals that unwillingly surrender their lives to become a meal for us. It has gone on far too long now. It has been decided to lay new legislation before Parliament which will enforce new EU regulations on the protection of animals at the time of killing. This new legislation, scheduled to be introduced later this year 2013, will replace current British Law. Neither the present UK legislation or the new EU regulations, however, specifically mentions the use of CCTV in slaughterhouses, but the precise details of the proposed UK legislation are yet to be finalised. The placing of CCTV into our slaughterhouses would if exercised correctly would limit the cruelty and deliberate violence to our animals at the time of killing. It seems viable and now has become essential.
There is enough footage out there at present for all to see that utterly justifies this action. A serendipitous bi product of this could also be that we would be made more aware about what was being popped into our pies. An upside down horse could be identified as such and not passed off as a rare breed of exotic cow with huge teeth. I accept that there is a chain of events that started apparently from overseas and became lost in a trail of dodgy paperwork and the horsemeat allegedly did not spring from British soil. Where was it now Holland, France, Rumania it all seems so long ago .We can absolve ourselves by blaming it on foreigners bad habits .What happens on our soil is inexcusable. I believe it is time for all of our food processes from rearing to killing to eating should be utterly transparent. People need to know not only what goes into their burgers but what utter cruelty accompanies it. Undercover footage carried out by animal welfare charities has is spreading virally on the social network sites, YouTube and the internet. The most horrendous practices have been exposed. I watched these videos in horror; I have not forgotten those animals and what was done to them. What has been seen cannot be unseen. Perhaps the most shocking thing is that this was all filmed in England’s green and pleasant land and one slaughterhouse in particular very close to my home in Dorset where I would have expected better.
Throughout my formative years I was told that these animals are bred to be food so that’s ok. I’m not sure I thought about it much at all because I was taking cues from grownups that seemed quite comfortable with it and after all it was as it is today so hidden from view. What goes on in our slaughterhouses is wrong. Yet somehow I have always known that. I just buried it, lulled into apathy by happy cow commercials and comforted by the knowledge that the corpses that I consumed are free range. That they don’t mind in some perverse way being turned into a snack. What stops us taking our children to slaughterhouses if it’s so right? After all we take them to pick apples? What are we hiding? When factory farmed Cow Mabel meets Grass fed free range cow Mildred at the slaughterhouse kill pen you can bet your bottom beavers balls that they don’t give a damn about their socioeconomic grouping. Grass fed or concrete prisons they just don’t want to die. The free range myth is for us not them so that we can keep living the dream. The humane killing is an even bigger lie. The Dairy industry is an atrocity.
I have been told that I live in a world of hopes and dreams. I would prefer to view my way as compassionate rather than dreamy. I don’t eat animals. I hope that one day albeit not in my time that we preserve our world and if we do it will be in the nick of time by ceasing the slaughter of the animals and find a different way to live. This is not to be in my life time but we can take small steps as we push for change.
