Short Essay 1

Article Rewrite

I rewrote the New York Times article about the horsemeat scandal in Europe. The original article explains the scandal involving horsemeat being found in products that should contain beef. This is occurring throughout many European countries but the original source of the meat is not completely known. I am rewriting the article as if I was a mother living in the U.K. writing a blog. The audience for this blog would be other parents, who probably live in the U.K. or Europe, so when rewriting this article I added some concerns that a parent would have. I did not include all of the details about the whole scandal because the parents reading this blog are most likely more concerned with the consequences for their family. I also added a lot more of ‘my’ personal opinion because as a parent writing a blog I would want my readers to know my opinion on the subject. Also, the other parents reading the blog aren’t interested in the small details about what section of the government are doing the tests but are more interested in the details about the tests actually happening, how it could affect their child, or how they can avoid the scandal.

Are we feeding our children horsemeat?

Last week I had a birthday party for my five-year-old son and we made burgers for the kids. Now I am worried that I unintentionally fed all my son’s friends horsemeat burgers instead of beef burgers. The government has stated that they have found horsemeat in a lot of frozen products that should contain beef. Not only is it bad enough that these products contain horsemeat but also that they can’t pinpoint where the fraud is starting. This scandal is happening throughout Europe in countries such as England, Ireland, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Luxembourg. If I travel with my family and buy food at a local store do I need to worry about what I am feeding my family? Also, horses are treated with different drugs to horses. What if some of the horsemeat that was found in these products had some drug in it that reacted with our bodies and made us sick. The amount of the drug might not affect me as an adult but my little five-year-old son might have an issue because he is so small! They have found a processing plant in Ireland that has been supplying England with products containing horsemeat. Another company in a different country was supplying the meat found in Ireland but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other processing plants with horsemeat. Maybe if I lived in Ukraine I might expect this but living in Surrey I expect the meat I buy at the store to be what it says it is. Maybe this is my fault for buying frozen foods instead of fresh foods but I should also be able to trust that beef is actually beef. As parents, throwing parties for our children can be expensive so of course we all want to save some money but maybe we should start buying only fresh meat. The companies are recalling products that might contain horsemeat but will that solve the problem? Are the companies going to recall these products but continue to use horsemeat because it is cheaper? We would all like to believe that our governments or the companies themselves should test products before they are packaged and put on the shelves but apparently they don’t already do that. The government is more worried about these companies misleading the buyers than the health and safety concerns. As a mother I am concerned about both sides but more so with the health and safety. Yes I would love to know what is in the products we are buying. However, I am also concerned with the health and safety side because imagine if I were throwing my son a party and was serving these burgers that contain horsemeat and one of the kids at the party is allergic to horsemeat. A kid having an allergic reaction at your child’s party is a huge concern to all of us as parents. I shouldn’t have to worry about giving my son, who has a peanut allergy, something containing almonds that might actually have peanuts in it because they are cheaper to produce. My advice to other parents: throw away frozen beef products that you have bought recently and start to consider buying more fresh meat!

 

The original article is from The New York Times and is titled: “Horse Meat in Food Stirs a Furor in the British Isles”. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/world/europe/horse-meat-in-food-stirs-furor-in-british-isles.html?hpw&_r=0