Have you heard of the scandal that happened in one of Great Britain’s biggest supermarket chains called Tesco? The British love Tesco as it sells very cheap products and it can be found on almost every corner of a British city or town.
On January 15th 2013 food inspectors discovered 30 % horsemeat in a certain brand of frozen beefburgers that were mostly sold by Tesco in the UK and Ireland.
In times of social media like Facebook and Twitter the news has spread fast and customers have been very concerned about what the food they buy actually contains. Tesco said it had taken away the burgers from the shop shelves immediately, and apologized to their customers. They also promised that they would find out what exactly happened and that they would work harder than ever so this would never happen again. Customers are also able to return the beefburgers and get a refund, that is, their money back.
However, it will be hard for Tesco to get the people’s trust back. Just imagine buying lovely beefburgers that you fry at home and suddenly you find out that you have actually eaten horsemeat! In this case not only horse lovers will be upset!
By the way, why are British people so shocked about eating horsemeat? In history, horses have played great roles as working animals and as an important means of transport. When Britons of today think of horses, they think of majestic animals or cute pets rather than meat.
But this is not the only reason for the protest: Customers also want to be sure that the products they buy contain what it says on the label. Hopefully, supermarkets can avoid mistakes like that in the future. Maybe there should be stricter regulations and more controls of our food? Otherwise we will soon find ourselves eating panda meat instead of pork and parrot instead of chicken. So the next time you are in a supermarket maybe check the ingredients of your food before you buy it or you could get a nasty surprise …
小题1:What is the scandal?
A．Tesco’s products were much more expensive than they are supposed to be.
B．Tesco didn’t react immediately to a food quality issue.
C．Tesco sold expired food.
D．Horsemeat was found in burgers sold in Tesco.小题2:What didn’t Tesco do in response to the scandal?
A．It withdrew the beefburgers.
B．It made an apology to the public.
C．It investigated and found out the cause and effect of the scandal.
D．It returned money to customers who bought the beefburgers.小题3:Which statement isn’t among the reasons why customers are furious?
A．People trusted Tesco so much that they never expected a scandal like this.
B．Everyone can call himself or herself a horse lover in the UK.
C．Sellers shouldn’t cheat customers.
D．The horse is humans’ friend.
