Health and poverty is the real scandal behind horsemeat

If a lasagne or cottage pie is labelled as beef then surely the customer has the right to expect it to be 100 per cent beef - anything else is a criminal act and the manufacturers should be prosecuted.

There is also the problem of horses being routinely injected and given medication which could have harmful effects on humans if the meat is consumed.

The fact that much of the horsemeat used in the pre-packaged ready meals investigated so far was sourced from Romania, a notorious European black spot for horse disease, compounds the health issues.

I also find it disgusting that certain members of the millionaires' club in Westminster have tried to shift the blame onto the customer for buying the cheaper "basics" brands.

Well here's news for them. Due to their vicious attacks on the poor, low-waged, disabled and the unemployed, there are now millions of people in this repulsively unequal country who have no choice but to buy the basics brands.

Maybe if the affluent oafs who are supposed to represent us were to adopt progressive policies to stimulate the economy, create employment and ensure employers pay a decent living wage, and stop malicious assaults on the benefits system, then people would possibly be able to afford to eat the kind of food the well-to-do Tories no doubt gorge on.

I won't wait with bated breath on them ever doing something to help the ordinary majority though.

Steve Flynn

Fife