It's Official: I K E A Meatballs In Bangkok Contained Horse Meat

[Baerboxer]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

[ZhouZhou]

It appears that horse meat is much bigger business than most people knew. I am against eating horsemeat, but for a country like Thailand that eats the crap they eat, where is the complaint? Thais eat stinky dried squid, grasshoppers, beetles, dried frogs, and what ever else that can found on those insect street carts. Those thousand year eggs that smell like ammonia are a real taste treat. Seems like horse meat is a step up.

it is not crap. it doesn't stink. it taste good.

[belg]

next up, the DUCK in your MK was really cat

[ZhouZhou]

I think they should also disclose all the other garbage they put in meatballs and fishballs all over Thailand. Random samplings of food vendors and restaurants would be interesting. If you watch vendors making this stuff, you can sometimes see huge wads of pure fat going into meatballs - aroy, aroy!

the meatballs are not worse than any other kind of sausage making in other parts of the world.

[Bluespunk]

If people saw what went into sausages, meatballs, processed meat crap they would be complaining about a lot more than them containing horse I'm sure.

[ZhouZhou]

If people saw what went into sausages, meatballs, processed meat crap they would be complaining about a lot more than them containing horse I'm sure.

[Gimbo]

I like horsemeat, especially dried. I think it should be more expensive than beef. Which religion prohibits eating horsemeat?

None as far as I know , one of those food taboos that isn't religiously based. Probably dates back to when horses were bred not for food but rather for transport, labour and warfare.

The taboo was actually religiusly based. The eating of horse meat was a holy act on the old pre-christian religion of the Germanic northern Europe. When Christianity was introduced by the sword, they banned the eating of horse, and made it a crime punishble by death. The exception was Iceland where the introduction of Christianity was introduced by vote at the Allthing. But one of the conditions they set for taking the cross was that they may continue to eat horse meat. And to this day, the icelanders still love it.

In Norway after the horse meat "scandal" broke, the sale of horse meat, and meat products openly containing horse has sy rocketed after the "scandal" started :-)

[Bluespunk]

If people saw what went into sausages, meatballs, processed meat crap they would be complaining about a lot more than them containing horse I'm sure.

His patties were too sanitised. He should have included the sawdust, rotting meat and other bits of crap a mass produced product contains, might have changed their minds. Possibly cooked up some more edible parts of the chicken would have helped. Give them a choice and see what happens.

[Bluespunk]

I like horsemeat, especially dried. I think it should be more expensive than beef. Which religion prohibits eating horsemeat?

None as far as I know , one of those food taboos that isn't religiously based. Probably dates back to when horses were bred not for food but rather for transport, labour and warfare.

The taboo was actually religiusly based. The eating of horse meat was a holy act on the old pre-christian religion of the Germanic northern Europe. When Christianity was introduced by the sword, they banned the eating of horse, and made it a crime punishble by death. The exception was Iceland where the introduction of Christianity was introduced by vote at the Allthing. But one of the conditions they set for taking the cross was that they may continue to eat horse meat. And to this day, the icelanders still love it.

In Norway after the horse meat "scandal" broke, the sale of horse meat, and meat products openly containing horse has sy rocketed after the "scandal" started :-)

No one mentioned this at Sunday school, cheers for the info. :-).

[Sirius1935]

Horses are rarely if ever seen in Thailand. This may give rise to a whole new entrepreneurial opportunity, under the table of course.

Up in the North there are hundreds of horses. My neighbours have horses and they roam all over my land and the whole hillside. The local monk keeps dozens of thoroughbred horses. I have helped save horses from the local knackers yard and the meat produced there was for human consumption. The sad site was a huge pile of horse bones right next to the paddock where the horses were kept, awaiting their turn.

[Dibbler]

And they are delicious! Have tried them many times at the IKEA canteen and taken packets home to cook in spag bog. There's nothing wrong with horsemeat if it's kept fresh. 2 million Mongolians can't be wrong!

[barefoot1988]

As long as it didn't contain beef it probably sold well...

Really, meatballs can contain virtually any type of animal flesh, unless the package specifically states that it contains only one type of meat. And horse meat is probably no less healthy for you than beef, pork or chicken.

the concern is not just about platable horse meat but having unregulated, illegal and unsafe horse meat loaded with chemicals. of course one could argue beef are done up with steroids and blah but we are talking about phenylbutazon, venoms, diuretics, bronchodialators, steroids and vaccine that are proven unsafe and banned in cattles

[Cengle777]

The point the is being missed is that those in Thailand who follow Ghanesh (Pape Kane) are either vegan or do not eat animals larger than pigs. For those the take it seriously this is a very horrific thing to discover and considered bad luck. Other than that... I'm sure most people enjoyed them... there are no specific health concerns. Horse meat to Brits is kind of like dog meat to Vietnamese... lol!

[wellred]

The told me to watch what I eat. So today I went to the grand national.

[Nisa]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

The 21 countries the meat were sent to were first judged by their likelihood to complain. LOL

[Nisa]

The point the is being missed is that those in Thailand who follow Ghanesh (Pape Kane) are either vegan or do not eat animals larger than pigs. For those the take it seriously this is a very horrific thing to discover and considered bad luck. Other than that... I'm sure most people enjoyed them... there are no specific health concerns. Horse meat to Brits is kind of like dog meat to Vietnamese... lol!

People should never be fooled about what they are eating but my guess is if they were willing to eat beef meatballs then it didn't break any beliefs about eating vegan or animals larger than a pig..

[a99az]

Good I must dash and get some before they run out.

[Thai at Heart]

What is the percentage of meat full stop?

[h90]

Now I know why those Ikea meatballs tasted like seafood and biscuits - Sea Biscuit.

maybe sea horses in it

[justathought]

so now I know why I was able to sprint

[isawasnake]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

Evidence?! Who the hell do you think I am, your own personal Johnnie Cochran? You were on track to start your post.

Let me ask you this, you have two hundred dollar bills you need to unload, one counterfeit, and one real. You have to give both of them away, one to a cop, and one to a 12 year old girl.... which one are you going to give to who? That was out of left field, but that is the "evidence". I'm suggesting that they knew, or did not bother to pass certain health inspections due to an obvious lack of blow-back btw. Not that they knew 100% as you mention.

[Sing_Sling]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

Evidence?! Who the hell do you think I am, your own personal Johnnie Cochran? You were on track to start your post.

Let me ask you this, you have two hundred dollar bills you need to unload, one counterfeit, and one real. You have to give both of them away, one to a cop, and one to a 12 year old girl.... which one are you going to give to who? That was out of left field, but that is the "evidence". I'm suggesting that they knew, or did not bother to pass certain health inspections due to an obvious lack of blow-back btw. Not that they knew 100% as you mention.

Umm . . . Baerboxer does have a point, as I read your post in the same context. Seeing as European countries also received horsemeat it seems you are saying that it was willful on IKEA's behalf because Americans would complain too much had they also been delivered the equine meat

[isawasnake]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

Evidence?! Who the hell do you think I am, your own personal Johnnie Cochran? You were on track to start your post.

Let me ask you this, you have two hundred dollar bills you need to unload, one counterfeit, and one real. You have to give both of them away, one to a cop, and one to a 12 year old girl.... which one are you going to give to who? That was out of left field, but that is the "evidence". I'm suggesting that they knew, or did not bother to pass certain health inspections due to an obvious lack of blow-back btw. Not that they knew 100% as you mention.

Umm . . . Baerboxer does have a point, as I read your post in the same context. Seeing as European countries also received horsemeat it seems you are saying that it was willful on IKEA's behalf because Americans would complain too much had they also been delivered the equine meat

I actually didn't know Europe received the horse meat. That does nullify my point in a way. BUT, I have never been to Europe, don't know how it works. This, I can tell you..... if this happened in the US IKEA would be having big big problems, much bigger than they are currently having. Evidence? I guess not, but it does not seem coincidental to me.

[JeffreyWitty]

'Nuff said.

[Nisa]

The reason this stuff happens here, and the reason we get crap products from all over the world, is that the entire culture here has no idea how to really complain and raise hell. Why do people think there was no horse meat in North American Ikeas? Coincidence? Yeah, sure.

Interesting comment. That suggests that Ikea management new their was horsemeat in the meatballs, or thought there may be some risks. They are aware that if they were caught in the states the fines and compensation claims would be massive, and their brand could be destroyed.

Do you have any evidence of this?

Evidence?! Who the hell do you think I am, your own personal Johnnie Cochran? You were on track to start your post.

Let me ask you this, you have two hundred dollar bills you need to unload, one counterfeit, and one real. You have to give both of them away, one to a cop, and one to a 12 year old girl.... which one are you going to give to who? That was out of left field, but that is the "evidence". I'm suggesting that they knew, or did not bother to pass certain health inspections due to an obvious lack of blow-back btw. Not that they knew 100% as you mention.

Umm . . . Baerboxer does have a point, as I read your post in the same context. Seeing as European countries also received horsemeat it seems you are saying that it was willful on IKEA's behalf because Americans would complain too much had they also been delivered the equine meat

Absolutely ridiculous to think they knew (purposely shipped horse meat). There would be nothing to gain and much to lose. The price difference is little and as far as I know Ikea is a distributor and doesn't produce the meat and would not be responsible for testing it as much as any grocery store is not responsible to test every product they sell to make sure the ingredients are exactly what is stated on the manufacturer label, even when the manufacturer re-brands the product. Unless IKEA runs the slaughter house or meat packing plants themselves, they are not the ones doing the testing and rely on these folks to obey laws and sell what they say.

The entire example provided of having a counterfeit note is based on the premise everyone is dishonest or risk legal consequences for little gain or to avoid a loss when in fact most people wouldn't. However, most of tend to believe others will do as we do ourselves.

Edited April 10, 2013 by Nisa

[isawasnake]

This whole scenario is convoluted by the fact that Europe supposedly got this meat as well, which I wasn't aware of when I made those comments. But, I have noticed products over here in Thailand, even from the reputable places, seem to be WAY under par when it comes to quality. Who knows if it is fakes, companies sending their less than desirable stock to Thailand, or BOTH. I prefer the "both" explanation. And I still don't personally chalk this entire scenario up to pure coincidence. The thought here is more that companies will be more careful sending a country like the US their products, not that they "knew". Either way, the fallout from this scenario seems almost at zero to me. Coincidence? Also coincidence that your clothing and electronics seem to fall apart here as well? Up to you I guess.

Edited April 11, 2013 by isawasnake

[wilcopops]

The problem isn't about whether or not one should eat horse; it is that the consumer is DECEIVED or UNAWARE that the product contained the meat and the possible hygiene risks involved as the meet was introduced illicitly.

...

To given it some perspective perhaps the situation in China might illustrate what happens without proper regulations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/03/chinese-police-bust-milli_n_3205913.html?utm_hp_ref=tw