You are what you eat........................

[mk1]

I was wondering why I suddenly got a craving for sugar cubes!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21034942

Horsemeat found in some Irish beef burgers
Horse DNA has been found in some beef burgers being sold in Irish supermarkets, the Republic of Ireland's food safety authority has said.

The FSAI said the meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, and the Dalepak Hambleton plant in Yorkshire.

The chief executive of the FSAI, Professor Alan Reilly, said there was no risk to the public.

However, he added that eating horsemeat "was not in Irish culture".

"Whilst, there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horsemeat in their production process," he said.

"In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horsemeat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger.

"Likewise, for some religious groups or people who abstain from eating pig meat, the presence of traces of pig DNA is unacceptable."

The burgers were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.[/b]

A total of 27 products were analysed, with 10 of them containing horse DNA and 23 containing pig DNA.

Horsemeat accounted for approximately 29% of the meat content in one sample from Tesco.

Retailers have said they are now removing all implicated batches of the burgers.

[Lucy Lass-Tick]

Could have been worse ... there were some distinctly 'iffy' customs attributed to the ancients of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis in his 12th/13th century writings (reproduced here from Wiki).  Can't see it taking off in McDonalds ... 

'Geraldus Cambrensis recorded a ceremony among the Irish:

There is in a northern and remote part of Ulster, among the Kenelcunil, a certain tribe which is wont to install a king over itself by an excessively savage and abominable ritual. In the presence of all the people of this land in one place, a white mare is brought into their midst. Thereupon he who is to be elevated, not to a prince but to a beast, not to a king but to an outlaw, steps forward in beastly fashion and exhibits his bestiality. Right thereafter the mare is killed and boiled piecemeal in water, and in the same water a bath is prepared for him. He gets into the bath and eats of the flesh that is brought to him, with his people standing around and sharing it with him. He also imbibes the broth in which he is bathed, not from any vessel, nor with his hand, but only with his mouth. When this is done right according to such unrighteous ritual, his rule and sovereignty are consecrated.[5]
The major points of comparison involve:
The king (most likely; Geraldus is somewhat indirect) couples with the mare to be sacrificed;
The horse is dismembered and cooked in a cauldron, and consumed by the king who is also sitting in the cauldron.'