What is all this fuss about eating horse?

I lived near Romford, Essex, during the last war. Meat was rationed and, in the very worst months, a “ration” for one person for a week was the equivalent of a lamb chop.

My mother used to hand over our unused tea ration coupons to our butcher in exchange for meat... and that meat was horsemeat.

About the only difference I noticed was that the meat had a coarser “grain”.

If we didn’t have any spare tea coupons we still got our extra meat (wink, wink).

Horsemeat farmers had to dye the meat green to make sure it could only go to commercial users, but it always seemed to be getting in to the domestic market.

Our butcher called it “South African buffalo” but he knew that we knew it was horsemeat because my friend was the son of the farmer.

Romford Market was reckoned to be the worst “black market” in the South by officialdom during the Second World War, but the public didn’t mind.

And for those who turn up their noses at the thought of horsemeat, just remember horses are much cleaner animals than cows.

Bob Metson, Chestnut Way, Henfield

Why should we believe what officials tell us? Will we ever trust the food manufacturers again? Besides horsemeat, what else are they putting in our food?

Those involved have committed a criminal offence. Yet I see no “wanted” posters in town. Where are the police?

Oh, and some in the industry say it’s not their fault; they just buy the meat from the abattoirs and middle-men, and shove it in cottage pies and lasagnes without even looking at it. The ruling classes know there is a massive problem in our meat food processing industry. But they don’t want the rest of us to panic.

And where do our masters at the EU fit into all of this? I guess they are too busy wining and dining at the local racecourse.

Why aren’t the food standards agencies testing every food product themselves? Have Government cutbacks left the FSA without any troops on the ground? Perhaps several hundred people should go to jail.

Peter Mitchell, Somerset

The current horsemeat scandal in Europe was predicted in the film Soylent Green, a 1973 movie starring Charlton Heston (his final film) and Edward G Robinson.

The film depicts an investigation into the murder of a wealthy businessman in a world suffering from pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty, dying oceans and increasing greenhouse gasses.

Much of the population survived on processed food, basically like the world as it is today. This film should we awarded a special Oscar for being so prophetic.

Peter Baxter, Springate Road, Southwick