Meat as a commodity

The current rumpus over horse meat in beef products misses the point; meat is not just a commodity. Whether it is horse or beef may disturb the sensitivity of British people who don’t agree with eating horses but the real question is the safety of the meat and the sustainability of its supply.  Discovering that some ‘beef’-burgers were actually horse-burgers, or that beef lasagne was actually horse lasagne, exposes the inadequacies of the complex industrialised system of meat production and supply.

 I wrote in Victim of Success: Civilization at Risk:

In the global beef market, we put our trust in each link of the global supply chain. It starts with the farmer, but he/she has no direct link with, or responsibility to, the end consumer. The farmer wants the best price for the cattle by whatever means the market allows. ...The animals enter an industrial system of factories and middlemen. At the other end, the consumer buys a pack of meat off the shelves of the supermarket knowing little about the route it has taken. At each stage, people are thinking about maximizing their share of the profit. … Regarding beef as a commodity means that beef is produced as cheaply as possible. This is not a fail-safe system. There is always the temptation to push hard against the limits provided by the regulations – and beyond, when inspectors are not on site.

The systems of the global beef market are both unsustainable and uncontrollable. To the middle men trading consignments of beef breaking the regulations is just a risk they take. They might get caught and fined but the profits are worth the small risk. If it was just high grade horsemeat replacing the more expensive beef that is a simple fraud. There are many other ways to game the system, such as growth hormone and antibiotics to increase yield as well as diverting meat from the knacker’s yard away from dog food production into the human chain.

The solution is not more testing, more inspection or increased regulation; the solution is to change the global beef market so that we don’t compromise over food such that beef can be healthy and safe by default. Not just for the well-off but for everyone.