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Mouse fur and metal shavings are nearly impossible to get rid of, at least in occasional trace amounts. Mice are always attracted to food and will shed fur. Metal shavings are difficult to avoid in industrial production. The real question there is whether levels of them are higher than 'normal'.
Horse meat, though, is highly sus. Horses don't just wander into food production facilities. Somebody put that in there on purpose.
Someone on one of the Reddit threads (I think they were an ex meat worker), posted an image of some mouse fur they found in some store bought mince. It's gross to see, so be warned:
A bit more than trace amounts.
New South Wales Greens politician Abigail Boyd used parliamentary powers to force the production of thousands of documents from the NSW Food Authority, revealing what she says are serious weaknesses and a lack of transparency in the system.
Thank you and excellent work Abigail Boyd!
Unfortunately the government has blocked any release of brand names or company names. Which is disgraceful.
Still, because the horses, mice and allsorts are now out of the bag, perhaps there will be more investigation and pressure to find out who's done what. On the other hoof, it's such an enormous industry it wields a lot of power over govts, like other mega industries.
The 4Corners investigation is really worth seeing. We take so much for granted about food in Oz but there is a lot of fraud taking place which can have serous consequences. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-27/duped-food-exposed-part-1/106963452
Funnily. There are people around who would shovel just those things into their gob just to spite the Greens.
What is the issue with horse meat? Isn't it supposed to be healthier?
The issue is the lying.
If you're going to eat meat it's no worse than others, the issue is that you should be able to trust that the food you bought contains what it says on the labelling.
Healthier if it's legal and regulated, but these are just random horses. Some have medical issues, so have built up medicine in them that's not necessary healthy for humans.
Apart from the lying and profiteering, there's the issue of animal welfare and people's health. Horses are slaughtered in knackeries, not in abattoirs (which supposedly only slaughter animals for human consumption). Knackeries must comply with their state or territory animal welfare legislation but every state differs, so if there is horse meat in your mince you do not know under what conditions in was slaughtered. If you want to know a little more: https://www.farmtransparency.org/kb/food/knackeries
I was always partial to a Mixed Grill
Am I ever grateful I have my own mincer.