Monday, February 11, 2013
Something smelly about those numbers.
Polistra thinks there's something deeply strange about the horsemeat crisis in England. More and more food products are revealed to be 100% horsemeat.
Hold on there! Think about quantities! Cattle are raised by the thousand, specifically for slaughter. Horses are raised by the dozen, for enjoyment and racing.
America has about 55 million acres devoted to cattle and 600,000 acres devoted to horses. (Can't find recent numbers of actual horses.) In other words, horse farming is 1% of cattle farming.
How can so many products be 100% horse? Aside from sheer quantities, the beef supply chain is well established, while there isn't a proper and legal supply chain for horsemeat.
Bit later: One plausible explanation. Romania recently joined the 20th century by banning horse-drawn vehicles. This resulted in a glut of slaughtered horses and donkeys, which became a super-cheap source of meat.
¶ 4:33 AM 
Polistra thinks there's something deeply strange about the horsemeat crisis in England. More and more food products are revealed to be 100% horsemeat.
Hold on there! Think about quantities! Cattle are raised by the thousand, specifically for slaughter. Horses are raised by the dozen, for enjoyment and racing.
America has about 55 million acres devoted to cattle and 600,000 acres devoted to horses. (Can't find recent numbers of actual horses.) In other words, horse farming is 1% of cattle farming.
How can so many products be 100% horse? Aside from sheer quantities, the beef supply chain is well established, while there isn't a proper and legal supply chain for horsemeat.
Bit later: One plausible explanation. Romania recently joined the 20th century by banning horse-drawn vehicles. This resulted in a glut of slaughtered horses and donkeys, which became a super-cheap source of meat.
¶ 4:33 AM
