SHUTTING THE GATE AFTER THE HORSE HAS BOLTED

The great horsemeat scandal continues to cause havoc throughout the food retail industry across much of Europe, but the biggest question is not where the meat came from or who first labelled it ‘beef’ but why has this outrage not attracted a ‘gate’ suffix like 'Watergate', ‘bloodgate’ or ‘plebgate’.   Here’s a few to be going on with: Starting gate,  Stable gate, Burger gate, Surrogate

RACING OFF THE SHELVES

Officials are investigating how beefburgers on sale in UK and Irish supermarkets, including Tesco and Iceland, became contaminated with horsemeat. Most contained only a trace of horsemeat but in one batch nearly 30% of the meat content was equine.

   Several helpful suggestions have been contributed by members of the public including changing the name to hoofburgers and selling them as part of a mane meal deal. Tesco's are now saddled with the unwanted product but a company spokesman said " Every pony counts".