Can the labels we put on food products that we consume help to give certain products a makeover? It might be difficult to change people’s minds in the wake of a significant scandal, but a color label printer could potentially be of use with any food that has a PR problem.
It may sound slightly out of touch, but a British royal has suggested that the solution to the recent problem of horse meat appearing in products where it should not be (which is pretty much all of them) is that people just get accustomed to eating horse.
Princess Anne’s remarks at a recent conference seem to have captured the media’s attention for the moment, as the BBC reported on her appearance at a recent World Horse Welfare meeting.
“The scandal was that that was food that was improperly marked, not that it had horse meat in it, and if you put the correct label on it and put it back on the shelves, that would have been the correct answer. For everybody,” she said. “Because we need to be more honest about what’s happening.”
It seems curious that she would bring up such observations at an event meant to protect horse welfare, but part of Anne’s point seems to be that a market for horses would be part of a more enlightened atmosphere regarding the raising of animals.
Of course, these comments don’t have any major legal consequence at the moment and aren’t the same thing as the real attitude change that would be needed for this to make a difference.
But if horse really does require a change in the labels used to become more marketable, then it will be important to focus on making labels that reflect this purpose.
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