Europe’s Horsemeat Scandal Leaves Immigrants in Limbo

Karlskrona, Sweden// The bizzare discovery of horsemeat in food items across Europe that claimed to only contain beef has left many immigrants with the alternative of avoiding meat while they stay in Europe, amid reports that lasagna containing horsemeat may have been served in Swedish schools and hospitals.

The discovery of horsemeat started in Britain and Ireland and henceforth has been spreading across Europe like wildfire, becoming random headlines on newspaper, radio and TVs. horse-burger

Immigrants, especially Africans and those from the Middle East have been baffled by the news, prompting an unanswered mystery surrounding the lives of many.

“May be I have eaten horsemeat many times. Only God knows”, said Rizgar Kurdi, a Kurdistan immigrant who says he eats meat many times a week.

“When you read on the labeled it says ‘nötkött’ (Swedish for beef) or something. We believe in suppliers and what they labeled on the product and this made us always think we are buying the right product.

“For me it is not a problem to eat horsemeat, but misleading consumers based on product labeling is not a good idea. That is why yesterday my family has decided to go to the countryside and buy two sheep that we can slaughter and frozen. We want to stop buying meat from the Swedish market, especially a meat we didn’t witness when it was prepared,” he added. Rizgar

The scandal raised many eyebrows in Europe, as food safety authorities ruffled feathers in Sweden to discuss how to combat the scandal and prevent future meat fraud, in the wake of reports that 9, 000 (nine thousand) horses go missing each year in Sweden.

Officials plan to investigate why and how 9,000 horses disappear from Sweden each year, with experts suspecting they may be illegally sold to continental food factories.

Swedish supermarket chains Ica, Coop, and Axfood all confirmed on Wednesday that their lasagna products contain horsemeat, with the retailers' produce all coming from the French supplier Comigel.
The same French company had to recall beef lasagna ready meals in the UK too after tests there showed that they contained up to 99 percent horsemeat.

Comigel delivers frozen meals to 16 countries, including Scandinavia.
The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the Findus lasagna is probably not dangerous but ordered tests to determine whether it contains the common horse painkiller phenylbutazone, often known as Bute, which is banned from entering the food chain.

Unlike their European neighbors, many African immigrants in Europe have withdrawn their spending on meat; and rather have decided to spend it on chicken and vegetables.

“Since the news got to my ears I have stopped buying meat at the stores. We don’t know what type of meat we are eating,” Said Madi Mboob, a Gambian living in Blekinge, Sweden.

Like Swedish Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson, Madi has called on those responsible to be brought to book.

Erlandsson has also said that he didn't believe any changes to food packaging rules were necessary in the wake of the scandal, noting that he did not have “any indications from our expert authorities on a need for changes [of packaging]".

"We have a very strict legal framework - whatever it says on the packet should be the same as what is in the packet," he noted, adding suppliers should be reported to the police.

Dawoud Ataee, an Afghan immigrant living in Blekinge said he was not surprised to hear of the news, saying he comes from Asia and cases of such nature are common in that part of the world.

“Since I came from Asia, I have experienced this. I have heard the same things about dogs and cats. You know it’s true. Usually I buy a complete chicken and me and my family tries not to eat hamburger, because we doubt the meat.

“We will buy meat from the Muslim’s stores or we buy halal; even though the so called halal is not as we know halal to be, but it’s quite better, because it contains no horsemeat,” he said.

Research carried out by county officials in the south of Sweden and the Hästnäringens nationella stiftelse, HNS ("The Equine Industry Association") showed an inexplicable gap in the number of horse deaths reported in Sweden.

With a total population of 360,000 horses in Sweden, and a horse living on average 15 years, statistics indicate that around 20,000 horses should die each year, wrote the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper (SvD).


Swedish food company Findus has come under fire when their ready-made lasagna meals were found to contain traces of horsemeat - in some instances as much as 90 percent per meal, even though the meat was labeled as beef.

However, Swedish large supermarket chain, Ica, has recalled so many ready-made meals that its overstuffed warehouse in southern Sweden has started sending excess food to be recycled into biogas.