INCREASE THE LIABILITY OF SUPERMARKETS FOR THE AUTHENTICITY AND PURITY OF THE FOOD THEY SELL

This year it was found that many supermarkets were selling beefburgers that included a large proportion of horsemeat. Particular examples were burgers from Tesco, which included 29% horsemeat; or Asda, which included 80% of horsemeat.The issue is not that horsemeat is in itself dangerous. It isn’t. It is that yet again the supermarkets were grossly deceiving their customers.

The burgers which they were selling were so absurdly cheap that you would think supermarkets with any conscience would have checked the contents. With such a colossal scandal, and with a level of negligence by the supermarkets that almost amounts to being complicit with the deception of their customers, is it not shocking that there has been no punishment at all for the supermarkets?

The scandal also raises the point that, if such massive adulteration of food took place under the very noses of supermarkets, what other adulterations could they also be tacitly allowing? If the Food Standards Agency can check the contents of food, why can’t the supermarkets? The supermarkets are vast organizations with billions of pounds at their disposal. Thus the law should be adapted to make the large supermarkets more liable for checking any adulteration (including with toxic chemicals) of the food that they sell.