Horse, Horsemeat | featured news

A new study from researchers at Oxford University says the roots of the taboo on horse meat are in the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England. But the real reason may be simple economics.

So hungry you could eat a horse? Chances are, if you've regularly consumed processed-meat products in Europe, you already have. Since Ireland published surprise DNA results on Jan. 15 showing that a third of frozen "beef" burgers in Ireland contained at least a trace of horse, food scientists in more than a dozen countries have found the animal trotting into products where it was never meant to roam.

Horsemeat might not be bad for you to eat, but it's definitely bad for sales of products labeled as beef. But Ireland's surprise discovery of horsemeat traces in many factory-produced burgers is boosting business for one trade: Forensics labs able to use DNA fingerprinting to tell pig from fowl.

Burger King says it has stopped buying beef from an Irish supplier whose patties in Britain and Ireland were found to contain traces of horsemeat.