In all the several rows about the meat supply, where it comes from and what it is there are calls for better regulation and the application of advanced scientific techniques to restore confidence.
This, of course, depends on what the scientists are asked to do, who pays them and who are those critical to their career progress.
At present, there is a great deal of disquiet about what is published and what is not as well as the standards of science employed. In the West governments are mostly in thrall to the big firms with large scale lobbying impacting on decisions.
In the UK, most of the science is governed by the companies who commission it and a government that insists on commercial benefit as a criterion of funding.
In the news it seems that the Aintree Racecourse by Liverpool, home to the Grand National Steeplechase, has a contract with an abattoir that specialises in horsemeat.
This might explain why the supermarkets are busy "mending fences".
I think scientists are the only ones blinded by science nowadays. still if the horsemeat scam is encouraging people to rediscover their local butcher, that's got to be good.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience there is also a problem with the Civil Service, which tends to prefer regulation by inspection over regulation via official testing laboratories.
ReplyDeleteMany Civil Servants would rather see scientific tests done in-house by those they regulate.