Frozen food and ready-meals have become a part of life in many societies these days. In developing countries, eating burgers and deep-fried treats such as chicken parts or cheese-laden pizzas from global franchise restaurants is actually considered to be a sign of sophistication by the nouveau riche middle class.

This week, the processed food industry in the UK and France and much of Europe has been shaken by allegations of horsemeat being passed off as “100% beef” by leading supermarket chains. Quite similar to the revelations of “pink slime” (made from low quality scraps of beef once used for dog food and cooking oil) being used to pad up fresh ground beef in the United States last year, the detection of equine DNA in beef products draws a huge question mark (and perhaps an exclamation mark too), on whether food safety is largely in the mind.

At the core of the debate is the attitude towards horsemeat, and the chemicals that may have been passed on by mixing it with beef.

In France and Italy, horsemeat is a culinary delicacy; in the UK, which styles itself as a nation of animal lovers, this is not so. But while the initial revelations (in mid-January, Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by a number of UK supermarket chains including Tesco, Iceland and Lidl) created a furore that was more culture- rather than health-oriented, the concern is now over the accuracy of food labelling, and negligence in the processed foods industry.

Also in January, pig DNA was found in supposedly halal products for Muslim prisoners in the UK.

There are fears that horsemeat may contain phenylbutazone or “bute” - which is dangerous when used by humans.

The UK’s environment minister Owen Paterson blamed “incompetence” or an international “criminal conspiracy” for the scandal.

French Consumer Minister Benoit Hamon has ordered an inquiry into the use of horsemeat in Findus Group  (whose lasagne was found to have 100% horsemeat) and the government is ready to press charges.

The decline of food preparation at home, despite the plethora of cookery shows on TV and publication of cookbooks, is in a remote way, responsible for this overdependence on frozen and ready-made victuals.

In the West, frozen foods sold in wholesale are the cheapest option available for most recession-hit families. Some reports have said that horsemeat costs one-sixth the price of beef because there is no demand for it, and this could have been a key reason for its usage in frozen food.

With no control over the basic ingredients of their food, the poorest members of society in the West, not surprisingly, often have the highest incidence of obesity.

While the presence of edible horsemeat in beef products may in actuality have a negligible effect on health, it is a sad fact of life that we can no longer trust what we eat.