A year has passed since system failures and lapses in procedures allowed horsemeat and equine DNA to enter the food chain, but what has actually changed in that time and how have consumers reacted?On the surface, it would seem very little after an initial shock. Despite there being some arrests linked as a result of fraud in France, there have been no arrests in Ireland and there are unlikely to be any. However, there have been some changes to consumer trends, but not as much as one might expect.
A year has passed since system failures and lapses in procedures allowed horsemeat and equine DNA to enter the food chain, but what has actually changed in that time and how have consumers reacted?
On the surface, it would seem very little after an initial shock. Despite there being some arrests linked as a result of fraud in France, there have been no arrests in Ireland and there are unlikely to be any. However, there have been some changes to consumer trends, but not as much as one might expect.
According to Dave Berry from Kantar Worldpanel, consumers’ sense of trust has been affected to some extent but, for the most part, the trends have been unaffected. According to Kantar, sales of frozen burgers, frozen ready meals and frozen beef were down 1%, 6% and 11% respectively between December 2012 and December 2013.
“We had seen an impact initially on consumer trends. Behaviours have changed,” Berry said. “They turned away from frozen burgers initially but have come back a little. However, they are driven now by branded products which are performing well. Consumers were watching private labels very closely and they haven’t seen the same recovery,” he added.
Berry also said that retailers caught up in the scandal have not been directly affected.
“Tesco has suffered over the past eight or nine months but you can’t say for certain it was because of horsemeat. Consumers have been more affected by the brands,” he added.
Overall, consumers reacted initially with concern about potential health implications but that soon turned to innuendo and ridicule towards the brands and outlets involved in the scare.
On Wednesday, a year to the day since the scandal broke, Dutch food authorities have issued an official recall for up to 11,000kg (24,000lb) of horsemeat that was illegally sold as beef in Holland last year.
The horsemeat came from 200 slaughtered animals originating in equestrian riding centres, pharmaceutical laboratories and private owners in France and entered the food chain at the height of the scandal in 2013.
The meat, unfit for human consumption and accompanied by fake documents labelling it as beef, was delivered to five Dutch companies via Belgium between January and October last year.
“There was nobody in Ireland deliberately adding horsemeat to beef” - Alan Reilly of the FSAI
Have lessons been learned from the horse meat crisis? - Patrick Wall discusses
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