On January 15, 2013, the United Kingdom discovered that beef sold in supermarkets contained horse meat, which was imported from Findus, a well-known multinational meat merchant in Europe. As soon as the incident broke out, there was an immediate uproar, and Findus immediately conducted a sample of beef imported to Sweden and the United Kingdom. Among the 18 samples, 11 were detected with horse meat ingredients, and the proportion of ingredients was between 60% and 100%, that is, horse meat was more than beef, and the beef on the shelf was directly impersonated with horse meat, which was simply "hanging the head of the cow and selling horse meat".
The incident became the biggest food scandal in Europe in the past decade or so, and the horse meat that the British fasted was also pushed to the cusp. So what exactly is the problem with horse meat, and why do most countries in the world, including China, not use horse meat as the mainstream meat? Nor do people breed meat horses on a large scale?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > horse meat has the same nutritional value as cattle, sheep and pork</h1>
Horse meat is rich in nutrients, not only high in protein content, but also contains a variety of amino acids, especially lysine is more abundant. Horse meat contains about 1% glycogen, which is not found in other meats. And the cholesterol content is low, rich in a variety of vitamins needed by the human body, the content of vitamin A can reach 102mg / kg, iron, copper and other trace elements are high.
The nutritional value of horse meat is no less than that of cattle, sheep and pork. But why has it been unpopular?
Comparison table of nutritional components of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > historical reasons</h1>
In China, for example, Chinese mainland the population has been dense since ancient times, but most of the land is concentrated in the hands of landlords and rich peasants, the peasants' land share is low, there are many disasters, crop yields are low, and agriculture still needs intensive cultivation, so it is difficult for farmers to barely make ends meet, so it is more difficult to raise large livestock. Because horses have high requirements for forage, they need to eat high-quality forage, and they are not able to ruminate like cattle, so horses are more difficult to raise than cattle. It is precisely because of the scarcity of large livestock that cattle and horses are listed as rare military resources by the government, and the people are forbidden to slaughter and eat them without authorization. When ordinary people have a horse, the first thing that comes to mind is to make it a good war horse, how to make it run faster, or become a freight resource, so many places have not had the habit of eating horse meat since ancient times.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > economic value</h1>
From the perspective of the aquaculture industry, if any kind of meat animal wants to become mainstream, it is necessary to ensure a medium or low feed-meat ratio. That is to say, meat animals use less materials, produce more meat, and the cost of meat is lower, which is more suitable for mainstream meat food. And the horse has a large amount of exercise, likes to eat less and more meals, and will soon be full, but will soon be hungry, and the horse has no night grass and no fat. So horses can't accumulate fat very well, so horse meat fiber content is also very high, less fat content. Unlike pigs, being kept in captivity to gain weight not only saves materials, but also obtains lean meat that is more suitable for use.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > policy support is small</h1>
This year, the preferential policies related to China's animal husbandry industry have basically tended to pigs, chickens, cattle, sheep, etc., and the horse industry has gradually shown a decline phenomenon, and even withered. Throughout the developed countries of the horse industry, it is inseparable from the strong support and help of the government. China's horse industry only relies on the self-development of the people who like horses, and is still at the low-end level, and the horse industry has also transformed from the past service-oriented to horse racing and leisure and entertainment.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > popularity</h1>
People who have eaten horse meat say that horse meat is sour and tastes bad; meat fiber is coarse, fat content is small, it is difficult to chew, and people with bad teeth are simply guilty of eating horse meat, whether it is stewed or fried. So for the same or less price, people prefer to eat beef.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > cooking method</h1>
Now there are conditions to eat horse meat, the public still do not like to eat horse meat, mainly because of the higher cooking requirements of horse meat. Horse meat is one of the kazakhs' favorite meats, and they are very experienced in cooking horse meat. Kazakhs eat smoked horse meat and smoked horse intestines as commonly as we eat bacon and sausages. Unlike traditional cooking methods, they would pick the fattest and strongest horses, set up pine firewood, and smoke the meat dry with smoke, so that the resulting horse meat was more fragrant and easier to chew. Smoked horse intestines are rich in horse intestine fat, fat and thin, and fat but not greasy after smoking. Smoked horse intestines and bacon are essential foods for the Kazakhs to spend the winter.
Smoked horse intestines
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > emotional factor</h1>
Horses in the agricultural era is the labor force of the family, a horse can top several laborers, the horse is like a dog, human nature, people will have feelings for the horse, so they are reluctant to sell or eat their own horses until they have to. Eating horse meat is as cruel in some people's hearts as eating cat meat and eating dog meat.
However, I think that horse meat is like a unique delicacy that appears all over the country, and people who can make it and eat it think it is a delicacy in the world, and those who can't make it find it difficult to swallow. In Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, Xinjiang and other regions, there are horse meat-based specialties, and people from other places will feel delicious after eating it, so in this part of China, anything made into food has unlimited possibilities, but you haven't found it yet.
In fact, Europeans also eat horse meat, but since the consumption of horse meat has become a Christian taboo, the number of Europeans who eat horses has gradually decreased. But during World War II, because of the lack of meat, horse meat became the first choice for food, and eventually fell out of favor around the 1980s.
Have you ever eaten horse meat? What do you think of horse meat?