STEPHEN Metcalfe, local MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, rose in the House of Commons today to stand up for constituents who have been defrauded by the horse meat scandal.
Mr Metcalfe’s comments come in the midst of great controversy surrounding the sale of ‘beef’ products which have been found to contain substantial amounts of horse meat. Supermarkets Tesco’s, Co-op, Lidl, Aldi have all stocked horse meat products while Findus beef lasagne was also found to a prime culprit.
The local MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock said to the Minister of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, David Heath MP: “Families in Basildon and Thurrock have been defrauded in the food that they have bought. Does the Minister share my anger that the retailers have allowed that to happen?”
To which the Minister responded: “We should all be outraged that people have been given meat that is not as described on the packet. The Government stand four-square with the consumer who goes into the shop and buys the product, and say, “This will not do.”
“It is unacceptable and those who have allowed it to happen, whether through insufficient checking or criminal activity, must be brought to book.”
Mr Metcalfe commented: “Whilst I must stress that there is no human health risk to this scandal, it is simply unacceptable that the people of South Basildon and East Thurrock have been so grossly mislead.”
“I welcome the Governments staunch position on this issue and hope that the perpetrators of this crime feel the full force of the law.”
Mr Metcalfe commented: “Whilst I must stress that there is no human health risk to this scandal, it is simply unacceptable that the people of South Basildon and East Thurrock have been so grossly mislead.”
Could Mr Metcalfe tell me what medical qualifications he has for making this statement
It’s just a bit of horse meat, it won’t harm anybody. It’s a worry that our political representatives are getting into a lather over this, essentially, food labelling issue instead of concentrating a lot more on our hospitals; which are actually killing people.
Grey it isn’t a problem it is for poor family’s in this credit crunch being defrauded out of money and the stores earning millions when you think your paying for beef when your really paying for horse that could have been injected with steroids and pain killers , if we all had taken your advice grey we would all have mad cows disease 10 years ago
Do you think Steve Metcalfe eats cheap meat grey When patients are feed three meals a day on a budget of £2.10 what do you think is in those meals it can’t be anything that has horns on its head I will give you 3/1 it’s not cow
Shelley, it has yet to be proven that the stores are making any money out of this at all. At the moment it looks like they too are victims of fraud. Time will tell. As for the health of the meat, I think they have already ruled that out as being a problem with horsemeat. Don’t forget, horsemeat is eaten all over europe (knowingly, I might add) and is a legitimate food source. I have eaten horse myself and found it to be quite tasty. As for the cheap meat in budget foods, I think you will find it as always been extremely low quality stuff that, given a choice, you would rather not eat.
People on a budget have not got a choice down to Tory cuts so let them eat cake
Having been in the catering industry for over 45 years locally, I know that some foodstuffs have been questionable especially in hospital food. We used to use a lot of soya granules and cubes to bulk out the meat, but never knowingly used horse meat, although I wouldn’t have been surprised if we did!
When I started in Orsett Hospital the food budget was £1 per patient, per day, and that was for 3 hot meals! Yes, patients were offered cooked breakfast including Kippers!