I have been reading and tracking the horse meat since it broke, it is front page news over there and I was not surprised to see it hit the globe and mail, Its been interesting to see the connection to organised crime. When it got to the part about the one product being a hundred percent horsemeat, my only comment was this folks is why I grow my own and why its worth it to pay the extra if you can afford to do so to buy local/direct from the farmer.

As for the sign, well its been awhile since I was at the store, but it does not surprise me and yes, I do think its a very good sign of the times, but I also think that we are spoiled rotten in the belief that we should be eating fresh broccoli, and celery etc etc, at this time of the year..

As someone who grows most of her own food, it would more like dried celery in winter, frozen broccoli, and sprouts and or cabbage in place of the letticue.. Like it or not, at some point in time I truly hopefolks will go back to eating in a more seasonal/put by manner.. Wishful thinking perhaps.

I would not have noticed. I never go to walleyworld and rarely to grocery stores. Seasonal it is for us as well with the exception of the odd banana and sweet potatoe fix. I always suffer from sticker shock when I go.

I did see this a few days ago as Walmart as well and I thought exactly the same thing. Ironically, I was there specifically for prepping supplies lol

Remember Expo 67? If you ate a hotdog there, chances are it may have contained horse meat. People, including OC has been cutting corners on food products for awhile now. Glycol in french wine, less the pure Italian olive oil. etc etc.

While on the topic of unusual to us meats. Horse meat and dog meat are consumed in many countries as a source of protein. Only in some of the western countries where they are given pet status is this frowned on. When my niece taught English in South Korea for a year, the people in the apt above her were always getting a new puppy. C'est la Vie

Hi Scrounger

I don't have a issue with it being horse meat, lots of cultures eat horse and I have myself done so, I have never eaten dog and I can honestly say that i hope I never need to make that choice but I have made a point of trying many, many kinds of food over the years.

When i lived in the nunavut, there was a local family that would always seem to have a puppy, till it was a teen and then gone, then a new one, I always wanted to know what happened to those half grown dogs, then on our third year, they got one with the most pretty markings and soon after it just was gone.. one of the children had new mitt with matching boots, and it was very clear where that fur had come from..

I think the issue is that if you buy a package of meat that says beef, or pork or chicken, you should as a consumer be able to a point trust in the system enough (ideally) to think you are getting the meat you are paying for..

I read in a old cookbook, for the life of me, I can't remember which one, (I collect cookbooks and I have several hundred of them) but it was that as a good housewife, it was your job to make sure that the butcher left the bones in the meat, so that you could tell that you were getting the cut you were paying for.. The trend over the past number of years has been to remove skin, bones so that the customers are reminded less and less that its part of a animal..

Maybe what we need to go back to, is buying a roast, that you then grind yourself for your burgers, or buying with bone in, so you can once again tell the cut with thine own eyes..

That sign has been on the door to the store I shop at for my mom for the last few weeks. A lot of shelves are empty in the produce section. Good thing I dried a lot or mom would be without her soup

BFNOurPlace here (locked out for some reason) - I would like to point out here that the use of horsemeat was used without the knowledge of the authorities so where were the authorities here? What eles is being sold over the shelf without our knowledge. Look at EXCEL Foods and what happened there. Also there are vaccines used on horses that are dangerous to humans. These vaccines are allowed because the expectations of eating the horse is zero. So now we have a truly serious problem where the very government agencies expected to protect us have alloud horsemeat into our everyday foods without being tested first for safety reasons. Don't get me wrong I never depended on our government as they have always failed us.

Now I know how the likes of fast food burger chains can sell their burgers for $ 1.25 a Mchorse burger anyone? 😆

On a similar note, in Canada the laws of food labeling still allow for the phrase "natural flavour" look it up and you'll be shocked to discover what that phrase really means. Watch the documentary "Hunger Change"

It would be a safe assumption that most of your food is not pure. It goes far beyond what anything most people could think up. Check out meat glue. Its a legal way of cheating. More gruel please. Wait, thats GMO.

What do you mean a "sign of the times?" The picture is of a price increase on produce and the link is for the horse meat scandal in Europe.

While I hope that Highlandgal will reply herself, I took it to mean that its a sign of the times in regards to our food multi-national and global food system and how it can fail us..

Thanks Farmgal!

For thecrownsown: I take no offense to your comment, but am concerned about how literal you take a topic title. Let me try to explain my perspective:

While I agree the sign from Walmart is about price increase, have you ("you" being everyone in general), looked at the quality of food and availability of food. I remember a time when the grocery stores didn't run out of food of any kind with several days or weeks before new product arrives. I went into a nearby Costco and for weeks now, they have no Romaine Lettuce. NONE! I won't even about the quality of the expensive broccoli they are trying to sell us (that's at any store these days). I see the combination of shortages, poor quality compared to the past (including lack of controls on food quality or content - like Excel foods contamination or the Horse meat being sold as Beef impersonations), and the price increases as a sign of how most people are guilty of taking our food chain for granted, and yet that same food supply chain is more fragile than it has ever been. That is what I meant by "sign of the times". If anyone is looking for a sign that says "Head's Up Folks, The "Poop" don't need to hit the fan for you to have issues with your food supply" or "Go local, Go Seasonal, Grown your own (a la Victory Gardens of the war era), Support Local Farmers, Learn how to Preserve food for yourself" is probably going to be the first ones scratching their heads and wondering why they didn't hear about this in their local news on the front page when there is a serious disaster in the food chain.

I take comfort in having like minded individuals, which I'll assume includes everyone on this forum, all see this fragile situation for what it is and take personal responsibility for their food supply. That to me is the core of being a prepper: To understand that one's well being is not the government's responsibility, not the neighbour's responsibility, but our own. It's called Social Responsibility. Now if you'll excuse me, me and my little soap box shall now return you to the topic in question.

I'll wait for Highlandgal's response to see what she says.

Definitely some failures. Always will be failures. No matter what system. Its a part of life. But multi national food distribution has solved a lot of problems. I talk to my Grandparents and they've explained what real real food shortages were like, and famines....now with such distribution if one area in this world is hit hard, others pick up the slack.

To me, the photo in Wal Mart is encouraging. It shows how distribution still means food flows...and even better how the supply vs. demand is healthy and showing the true value of a crop.

The horse meat thing..wow...definitely showing some signs where there inspection agencies can pick up there boots. Hopefully this can be a good lesson learned and they can close any loopholes seen in the system....good thing these are few and far between, hence all the media hype on it. And rightfully so! There should be media hype to keep our public sectors accountable, and expose the organized crime behind this event.

If your buying horse meat, it should be labelled horse meat...if your buying Cow, it should be labelled cow. Who on earth thought they could sell one off for the other? Seriously...

Thanks Farmgal!

For thecrownsown: I take no offense to your comment, but am concerned about how literal you take a topic title. Let me try to explain my perspective:

While I agree the sign from Walmart is about price increase, have you ("you" being everyone in general), looked at the quality of food and availability of food. I remember a time when the grocery stores didn't run out of food of any kind with several days or weeks before new product arrives. I went into a nearby Costco and for weeks now, they have no Romaine Lettuce. NONE! I won't even about the quality of the expensive broccoli they are trying to sell us (that's at any store these days). I see the combination of shortages, poor quality compared to the past (including lack of controls on food quality or content - like Excel foods contamination or the Horse meat being sold as Beef impersonations), and the price increases as a sign of how most people are guilty of taking our food chain for granted, and yet that same food supply chain is more fragile than it has ever been. That is what I meant by "sign of the times". If anyone is looking for a sign that says "Head's Up Folks, The "Poop" don't need to hit the fan for you to have issues with your food supply" or "Go local, Go Seasonal, Grown your own (a la Victory Gardens of the war era), Support Local Farmers, Learn how to Preserve food for yourself" is probably going to be the first ones scratching their heads and wondering why they didn't hear about this in their local news on the front page when there is a serious disaster in the food chain.

I take comfort in having like minded individuals, which I'll assume includes everyone on this forum, all see this fragile situation for what it is and take personal responsibility for their food supply. That to me is the core of being a prepper: To understand that one's well being is not the government's responsibility, not the neighbour's responsibility, but our own. It's called Social Responsibility. Now if you'll excuse me, me and my little soap box shall now return you to the topic in question.

Sorry about my last post showing up right after yours. I think i was writing it and you had already responded.

All I can say is wowsers. I think I'll respectfully disagree with what your saying. I can't take a single Costco and extrapolate on that to mean that the whole system is in dire trouble. Or that the failure of an inspection agency on one, or even a few issues means that the whole system is rife with contamination, or poor food choices or doomed to failure... I think its great to discuss the issues of food safety/quality, and even give some hypotheticals (which looks like what is being discussed)...but not sure if I see the connections between this and the whole system in critical damage or heading off a cliff... Your store couldn't get Romaine lettuce? I dont' go to Costco, but if they arn't buying Romaine lettuce...maybe there is another reason for that...

Personal responsibility I absolutely agree with you. Fragile situation, I think might be a little overstated. But I respect you have your own experiences and views so no problem.

That is where real prepping or real preppers life is already paying off.Those prices are for the preppers that keep saying I WILL I WILL.
Henry