Kudos to The Times for attempting to assuage consumer concerns and restore their confidence regarding the horsemeat findings in ready-made meals and other minced meat products.

I doubt whether, without this newspaper’s input, consumers would have heard from the suppliers or health authorities.

However, the pivotal issue was not the contents of the products, as horsemeat is not considered dangerous to health, but, rather, the fact that retailers and suppliers lied about the meat type and provenance as they declared it as beef. This was made worse by the fact that they do not carry out adequate monitoring of their meat products to ensure that what is supplied is what is stated on the packaging.

How many ingredients are undisclosed and who is ensuring that what the consumers read on the label as product contents is actually as stated? Why should consumers now trust such clearly unreliable and untrustworthy claims?

Our Environmental Health Directorate has cavalierly stated that “we have received no information that any contaminated meat products were placed on the local market”. So are they waiting to be informed before taking any action?

We are indeed so fortunate that such proactive and consumer-friendly directorates are in place to protect consumers and ensure that the meat contained within the product (and not just confined to this one ingredient and, especially, on ready-made or prepared meat products) is actually what is stated and in the correct percentage as consumers are advised!

This is the real issue that needs addressing or should we merely wait to be informed before committing to any forthright action to reassure consumers?