The already massive scandal surrounding so-called ’100% beef” products in British supermarkets being found to contain horse meat may be much worse than expected. In fact British consumers may not only have been unknowingly sold horse meat but perhaps even donkey meat. It has also been suggested that horse (and perhaps donkey) meat has been in ‘beef’ products such as burgers for years!

It has been revealed that the horse meat scandal is likely to be not just a British problem but European, with consumers in many countries being unwittingly sold meat products containing horse and possibly even donkey meat. A French politician has suggested over the weekend that one of the reasons for this massive sale of fraudulent meat products may in part be due to a law banning horses on Romanian roads.

Horse drawn carts have been a form of transport in Romania for centuries but due to this ban it is feared that hundreds of thousands of horses have been sent to the abattoir for slaughter, and then sold in ‘beef’ products.

The law which was passed six years ago but has only recently been properly enforced also prohibits the use of donkeys on Romanian roads. This has led to speculation by French food officials that donkey as well as horse meat may have been added to meat products for sale across Europe including in Britain.

Do you think we can ever really trust the labels put on our food again?