Panda Meat Found in Vegan Chinese Dinners
The European food labeling scandal widened today as authorities disclosed the discovery of panda meat in ready-made Chinese meals sold in the U.K, France and the Netherlands.
According to the European Food Safety Authority, Chinese beef and soy noodle dishes from some major supermarkets have tested as containing up to 14 percent panda meat.
The new findings come on the heels of the months-long horsemeat crisis, in which food labeled as ground beef has been found to contain significant quantities of equine flesh.
Although not believed to present a danger to human health, the horsemeat scandal has exposed deep holes in the EU's food safety infrastructure.
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The revelation of panda meat in the food chain is more disturbing, however, because the animals are among the most endangered in the world.
Scientists estimate that only several thousand pandas remain alive in the wild, and if they are indeed being eaten in frozen noodle dishes they could disappear in just a few years.
Dawn Tinsley, a volunteer receptionist for the World Wildlife Fund's London office, says she often eats Chow Mien meals from her local market and his horrified by today's events.
"I've been throwing up ever since I heard about this four hours ago," Tinsley said. "I don't ever want to eat anything ever again. I just want to live off of Lucozade and Ribena for the rest of my life."
Tinsley says she's particularly upset because the meal she ate was marked as vegan - the panda meat took the place of soy faux-beef nuggets.
Other vegans from across Europe have reacted with similar disgust, and are planning a lawsuit against the governments whose food safety authorities failed them.
"I think everyone deserves to live in a society where food labeled as beef is actually beef," says Lars Von Trier, a Dutch lawyer representing the vegans.
http://dailycurrant.com/2013/02/26/panda-meat-vegan-chinese-dinners/