The context of the blog to which I am responding to is a situation in which a super store otherwise known as Aldi has been lying to customers in regards to the composition of the food product. Where instead of pure beef, there is also an addition of horse meat with the ratio ranging from 30-100%. Cecilia specifically commented on the lasagna. It was also mentioned that the Aldi refused to accept its undoings and push all the blames to its supplier Comigel into supplying horse meat without their consent. In addition to the dishonesty Aldi and Comigel has presented to its consumers, there are other points in which I would like to put forward.
As far as hygiene issues go, there have not been any cases in which horse meat has any negative health effects. And potentially the reasoning behind his act may root from a desire to reduce costs or maximize profits.
The biggest breach of ethics performed in the whole scandal is the dishonesty and lack of responsibility. The suppliers from France and Ireland were the ones that chose to supply horse meat instead of beef., they would think that as long as the label on the final product labels “pure beef” they would be able to rid of the problems. But now that the truth has been revealed, not only has the reputation of the super store been affected but the trust between retailer and supplier. This can result in trust issues in future which can affect transactions. This also has a negative impact on the trust of the consumer for the brand. With this information disclosed, consumers may find it hard again to purchase the same good when there is still the distinct possibility that they are not buying what they truly think they are buying. This level of dishonesty is sure to give current consumers an incentive to try other goods. The fact that some companies already knew of this scandal and chose to keep quiet about is a deceptive to retailers and consumers. The level of trust has been diminished so much that it was stated in the article that “this does not affect school catering” as an attempt to maintain loyalty.
Finally there is deception. Keeping company secrets and refusing to accept responsibility is more of a cowardly act which ones again all comes down to reputation as a whole.
My personal opinion on this matter is that there was a certain level of acceptance of the events that happened, mainly because as far as hygiene goes the food was still safe to consumer and would not provide any harmful affect. However there is more wrong than right, deceit and dishonesty is severely harmful in the loyalty and trust in the company which can affect potential sales in the future. The fact that the company knew and chose to keep quiet about it only adds insult to injury.