The recent food industry scandal whereby beef has been unscrupulously substituted with cheaper horsemeat is not without economic rationale or historic precedent. In 1866, the French government legalised the sale of horsemeat as an alternative to beef which during hard economic times was beyond the means of the average Frenchman1. The biggest market for horsemeat nowadays is however not France but China, followed by Mexico, Kazakhstan and Mongolia2. We are all familiar with the Malthusian narrative…
‘Beef (Horse) or Salmon?’
22 Feb 2013
Posted by Barry Norris