SIR – It seems the British public is unable to tell the difference between horsemeat and beef given that Findus lasagne contained 100 per cent horsemeat and it was laboratory tests and not consumers that discovered this.

Food adulteration or food contamination has a long, profitable and unpleasant history in Britain.

Examples from the past have been the use of chalk added to bread and flour to make them whiter; offal, grain and all manner of flesh has been added to meat products and, of course, water added to beer and milk.

Tea was also singled out with a range of additives.

In the 18th century, tradesmen found guilty of adulterating their produce were paraded through the street and pelted with rotten food.

A few years back a rat was found neatly sliced in a loaf of bread, but I’m sure this was an accident rather than adulteration, the unfortunate rat having fallen into the dough mix.

The hapless consumer at first merely picked out a black speck (the tail) from a number of slices before eventually realising the horrible truth.

A recent and shocking case of food contamination was the 2008 contamination of powdered baby milk in China.

The milk was contaminated with melamine resulting in six deaths and the hospitalisation of 860 babies.

An earlier case in China where milk was watered down resulted in the death of 13 babies from malnutrition.

In the earlier case, two people were executed for contaminating the milk powder.

Our own much less serious case will probably result in the somewhat contradictory increase in demand for horsemeat now that it’s been shown to be both tasty and healthy – and an increase in the number of vegetarians.

CHRIS BROWN

Worcester