There is a story that a person bought a curry from a takeaway and after she ate it something got stuck in her teeth. She could not remove it. She went to her dentist who removed it. It was a cat or dog microchip.
Microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and made of glass on the outside. Is this a made up story, an urban myth circulated on the internet for our amusement or is it real?
In a television documentary about the European horsemeat scandal in 2013, a lamb curry bought at a London takeaway which was sold as “Lamb Pussanda” was DNA tested for its meat content. The takeaway did not contain any of these meats: lamb, beef, chicken, pork, goat, horse.
The result baffled the experts. They were left with the possibility that the meat was either cat or dog. When we don’t know where the meat comes from, you don’t know how the animal was slaughtered or whether the animal was healthy. All the rules are thrown out of the window.
We know that in some parts of China and other Asian countries it is considered acceptable to eat cat and dog. In Europe it is unacceptable. It is quite feasible that some restaurants in Europe and America use cat and dog meat.
These two unconnected stories indicate that there may be some criminal activity at takeaway restaurants owned by families (independent businesses rather then large chains). To serve cat meat described as lamb would be a crime and a breach of contract (criminal and civil matter).
If it is true there would also be a criminal aspect in respect of how the cat or dog was kept and killed before being prepared for a curry. Sorry if this is difficult reading.
Personally, I never buy takeaways from what I consider to be seedy, independent operators in slightly run-down shopping areas. I get a sense that hygiene and following the law are not priorities in these places.
Almost all independent takeaways in the London area are owned by people who have a different culture to the English culture. I don’t know what is going on and therefore don’t want to point a finger at anyone. These stories just make me think and become wary about what is happening to stray cats and dogs.
It is also a good reason to do what Ruth and Babz do: become a vegetarian.
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I have heard of the microchip thing before however I think its a Hoax http://www.hoax-slayer.com/cosmo-romford-dog-microchip-rumour.shtml
This said it wouldn’t surprise me at all if cat and dog meat got into foreign food served in the UK. The thing for me is I am non vegetarian however I rarely eat Beef or Pork and never Lamb. I tend to eat chicken and fish. I order Chicken and I pay for Chicken therefore I expect to eat Chicken NOT Cat or Dog its that simple. Any food establishment serving anything other than you have ordered deserves to lose their livelihood and punished most harshly. Apart from this most importantly and as you quite rightly say Michael where have these cats and dogs come from? How have they lived and died?
I receive Petfinder emails every week and the amount of beautiful loved pets that are lost is heartbreaking but where do they go to? Its a pity local councils don’t check cats killed on the road for microchips then we could really see the numbers that really are missing.
On the subject of eating cat and dog in Thailand, Cambodia, China and such places for me its not about what you eat its about the life that animal has lived and how its been killed. The way animals are tortured deliberately and abused, bones broken, jagged tin cans shoved over a muzzel, hung up in the heat in agony for hours, animals skinned alive and boiled alive. THIS is what I hate as well as the people who do it its not about not understanding a certain culture its how they go about it. Its basically animal abuse nothing nore 🙁
Good thought. Thanks Sarah. I live near Richmond Park and I wonder if people are poaching some of the deer in the park. They have a formal yearly cull but I am seeing very few deer at the moment.
The most likely source of the mystery meat in the lamb pussanda would be deer. Deer poaching is becoming common, with many deer butchered in situ and the meat taken (trophy hunters take the hide and antlers). Donkey is also a possibility as tests for horse DNA may not detect donkey DNA.
I used to like a take away Chinese many moons ago but wouldn’t/couldn’t fancy one nowadays. I bet if we knew half the muck that gets in among the food we eat away from home and half the dirty practices involved in preparing it we’d never eat out again. As a veggie I’d never knowingly eat meat fish or animal bits but how do I know for sure what’s gone into the cooking and serving of my veggie brekkie or lasagne? Best not to think too much about it, that way lies madness 😉
Oops! sorry, thought you were being overly anxious…my mistake. 😉
I eat from stalls that I trust, and I know that is not what to which you are referring. Where are the laws? Enforce them. (hope that has changed.) Here in Lincoln, NE, USa, we had problems with one restaurant this year, 2013. wow. some folks still haven’t escaped their old thinking, have they? FWIW, it is not about culture, per se, but about individuals who are evil. nicht wahr?
oh boy, Mr. Rudolph Furtado, I understand why you reply in this fashion. BUT! Should it hurt (anger) us plain folk to still read it and want to discuss it? I am “Chinese,” by my friends, e’en though I am from the U.S. (please continue in greater detail…) I have eaten from vendors in the stalls from my faves, always trusting. I was vegetarian for decades. Became an alcoholic, lost everything, except my respect for good fud, and now eat meat, selectively. y usted?