Question: I heard about the horse meat scandle, but is horse meat really bad for humans, because people have been eating it for a period of time and no one had become ill?

Grant Campbell answered on 12 Mar 2013:

Hi. Horsemeat is not in itself bad for you. The importance of the horse meat scandal is not that people have eaten horsemeat, it’s that it has shown that parts of the food industry are not monitoring where they get their ingredients from carefully enough AND that there are holes in the system that criminals can exploit. That’s the actual concern, not the horsemeat itself.

Something to understand about the food supply chain is that it is very diverse and fragmented – lots of companies getting raw materials from lots of different sources, with companies, sources and food products changing all the time, and with enormous cost pressures on the prices we are willing to pay for our food – so there’s not a lot of money available to do comprehensive testing of all food products in all supply chains. Therefore there has to be a balance between a high level of food safety and traceability and a reasonable cost. But there also has to be very well thought through systems, hence it is important to have well educated food scientists who can create and put in place such systems.

Do, however, be reassured that food safety in the UK is amongst the very best in the world! And we are much more likely to be damaged by our own poor food choices (eating too much and eating the wrong things) than we are by shortcomings in the food supply chain.