The horsemeat scandal

This horesmeat scandal is similar to our "Pink Slime" 
Consumers feel duped

Just returned from the United Kingdom and this Horsemeat Scandal is HUGE.  I would liken it to our "pink slime" controversy last year.  Consumers feel duped that they have no idea what is really in their food supply, where it comes from and how badly it may be contaminated. Plus, you're paying for something entirely different than what you thought you were.  Social norms aside, doubt the healthiest horses are used for processing and they are administered drugs that are illegal for human consumption.  Plus, in this case, there is more than just a trace of pork in the beef products which is forbidden in the Jewish and Muslim communities.

Read entire post at Food Politics.

Side note:  had the pleasure of staying with a lovely Muslim family that follows the practice of consuming only Halal meat - fascinating how the "food rules" are similar to kosher:

Guarantee that the animal has been raised and butchered humanely.
No factory farmed meat here!

What is Halal?

According to the U.S. Halal Chamber of Commmerce:
In Arabic, the word halal means permitted or lawful. Halal foods are foods that are allowed under Islamic dietary guidelines. According to these guidelines gathered from the Qu'ran, Muslim followers cannot consume the following:

• pork or pork by products
• animals that were dead prior to slaughtering
• animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the name of Allah
•  blood and blood by products
• alcohol
• carnivorous animals
• birds of prey
• land animals without external ears 

Find the following post discussing the methods of butchering interesting as well and far more humane than factory farming.

Recent post at www.thekitchn.com:

My boyfriend owns a large Halal slaughter house in New York. Each animal is taken away from the other animals when it is slaughtered. It is given water to drink beforehand, and each animal is killed with one cut to the throat while ritual prayers are recited. The knives are re-sharpened before and after each killing. The animals are not kept in cages. The chickens are not piled on top of each other in crates. His poultry comes from Amish farms, and his lamb and goats are free range from Texas. The animals are fed all natural feed, and they are never given drugs or fed any animal by-products. 

The Halal laws are very similar to the Kosher laws. It is about respecting the creature whose life you are taking, and acting with reverent accordance. Two-thirds of my boyfriend's customers are not Muslim. They are just people looking for responsibly raised and slaughtered meat. I have lamb chops in my freezer right now, and I know exactly where and how they were produced. And I get the freshest eggs of anyone I know!