Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

When I go fishing, the first thing I do with any fish I catch is cut the cheek off, wash off the blood, take the scales off, and eat it raw.

It tastes amazing, but some people find it distasteful.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Really processed meats are not that gross.
...
responsibly using all parts of the animal.

I suppose grossness is a relative term, however mystery 'bits' of the animal doesn't exactly scream appetizing. Compared to most stuff I eat, that would probably qualify as the grossest. Also since it's so heavily processed, you have no way of telling what is really in there. You just have to take it on trust that it is fit for human consumption. I personally don't trust anyone, least of all corporations with an agenda to turn "waste" into "profit". There was a scandal here recently where horse DNA was found in supermarket shepherds pie (I'm sure you remember), and I'll bet that's not the worst thing to ever end up in our food. Who knows what might have fallen in the grinder over the years. There are still plenty of missing persons unaccounted for, if you catch my drift...

As I said, you probably wouldn't even want to know about the stuff that's supposed to be in there, let alone the stuff that isn't.

Sure, businesses have profit as their primary agenda. But that very thing is why they have very little motivation to do unsafe things.

Businesses lose a TON of money whenever they have to do a recall. Plants also get shut down if there are problems. When you're normally needing to run 24/7 to turn a profit that hurts.

And Horse meat should be allowed for consumption, its silly that any animal is banned for reasons other than conservation. Thousands of horses represent a lot of meat that, by our laws, would go to waste OR have to pay a bunch of money to ship them out of the country.

I've had horse before. Its not very appetizing IMO, but its food. Other countries eat it all the time.

And the idea of people ending up in ground meat belongs to the Tin Foil hat crowd.

 Jihadin wrote:
MRE Corn Beef Hash..cold

I actually liked that one.

Of course I liked the dehydrated pork patty and the dehydrated beef patty too.

I don't think I can include this, but people have tried to get me to eat it during my last trip to France to visit relatives.

A live songbird dipped in brandy and eaten. Bones et al.

 thedarkavenger wrote:
I don't think I can include this, but people have tried to get me to eat it during my last trip to France to visit relatives.

A live songbird dipped in brandy and eaten. Bones et al.

Live?

Surely something that cruel would be illegal in Europe.

 Grey Templar wrote:

Live?

Surely something that cruel would be illegal in Europe.

The people who brought us veal?

At least you kill the calf before you eat it.

It also seems like an utter waste of energy. "Hey, lets catch a bunch of those little birdies and eat them raw!"

And don't forget geese forcefed with feeding tubes til there livers are huge and bloated.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Horse meat should be allowed for consumption, its silly that any animal is banned for reasons other than conservation.

That misses the point. There is nothing wrong with horse meat, it is perfectly legal in the UK. The problem was it was being fraudulently added to beef products, and the source of the meat was not certifiably fit for human consumption (it was unknown), the horses may have been old or sick, and the meat tested positive for dangerous veterinary drugs which are not supposed to make their way into the human food chain.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Businesses lose a TON of money whenever they have to do a recall.

Which is all the more reason not to do one. If the horse meat hadn't been exposed in the press, we might never have known about it, it could still be selling now.

 Grey Templar wrote:
And the idea of people ending up in ground meat belongs to the Tin Foil hat crowd.

I will concede that it is probably a rare occurrence, but to say it doesn't happen is naive. In the horse meat scandal they couldn't even trace where the meat had come from ("somewhere in eastern Europe" maybe). Corruption means that meat products can come from all over the world, even lawless places in Africa, and Central America. A meat processing plant would be an excellent way for organized criminals to dispose of bodies: mechanically ground up and mixed in with a thousand tons of other unidentifiable mulch to be shipped off to 'god knows where' -- what's not to like?

 Grey Templar wrote:

 thedarkavenger wrote:
I don't think I can include this, but people have tried to get me to eat it during my last trip to France to visit relatives.

A live songbird dipped in brandy and eaten. Bones et al.

Live?

Surely something that cruel would be illegal in Europe.

It isn't eaten live. Its called an Ortolan. The bird is kept in a dark box and fed millet - because it is dark, it thinks it is night so it eats more millet and gets fattened. It is then plunged live into brandy so that it drowns, thus ingesting the brandy, and then cooked. You eat it whole bones and all whilst covering your head with a blanket supposedly to enhance the aroma and taste. Pretty sure someone mentioned it in this thread already. Also, I believe eating Ortolan is now illegal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortolan_bunting