Aldi got caught selling "beef" lasagne and spaghetti bolognese that tested 30 percent to 100 percent horse meat.
Not fresh meat. Frozen ready meals — Today's Special — supplied by French processor Comigel.
This is exactly why people walked away from the freezer aisle.
When that 2013 scandal broke across Europe, 6 in 10 shoppers said they changed how they shop. Frozen burger sales dropped 43 percent in a month. More than 60 percent said they would now buy from their local butcher instead.
And they did. Family butchers reported fresh burger sales up 30 to 40 percent, with customers asking straight up: where did this come from?
Makes sense. When you buy a cut you recognize and a butcher can tell you the farm, you have control. When you buy a boxed lasagne that went from a Romanian slaughterhouse to a Dutch trader to Spanghero to Comigel to Aldi, you don't.
Afterward, Tesco and other chains promised to tighten their supply chains and source more British meat closer to home. That was the right lesson.
Real protection isn't complicated. Cook from scratch when you can. Buy meat you can identify. Know who you're buying from. That's what held up in 2013 and it still holds up now.
