2000
It seems like only yesterday that England faced Mad Cow disease and images of 100s of thousands of cattle being burned or stiff-legged spread around the world. But those memories come back with the horse meat scandal (horse meat labeled 'beef') which has moved from budget chains like Icelands, Asda and (gasp) Tescos and packaged foods like Findus lasagnas (unit price £1.60) to upper-end groceries including Waitrose and even, gasp, our restaurant's beef burgers. While not a health threat, it is mislabelling fraud and a criminal scandal of real scale, connecting low practises in France, Roumania, Wales, Northern Island and, in the end, England. It is the most basic thing : can we trust what we eat and who serves it ?
Our butcher tells me that imported beef can be called British beef, if it remains in cold storage for one month or more.
Sonnet:
"We should all be vegetarians."
