Horsemeat scandal: burgers frozen out of shopping lists

Frozen burger sales are down by 43% and frozen ready meals by 13% in the wake of the horsemeat contamination scandal.

Two polls have found a significant number of consumers would be happy to eat horsemeat providing it was “safe” and properly labelled.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to February 17 reveal how consumers responded to the scandal which broke on January 16, showing that they changed the products they buy rather than where they shop.

A survey of almost 14,000 MoneySavingExpert.com users who are meat-eaters found 51% would buy horsemeat as long as they knew it was bred for eating and was, therefore, safe.