There are many lessons to be learned by the horse meat scandal that has hit the food retail industry; lessons for consumers, retailers, food manufacturers and politicians.

It will be some time before the dust settles and we can see the true picture emerge of the full extent of the issue, but one thing it shows very clearly is the importance of knowing the provenance of produce. Already, we are seeing the traditional butchers’ shops starting to see benefits from the fallout of revelations that horse meat has been found in some supermarket meat products as shoppers vote with their feet.

It would be unfair, though, to tarnish all supermarkets with the same brush, just as it would be unfair to suggest all processed ready meals are likely to be affected by the scandal.

Bradford’s own Morrisons, for example, makes a virtue out of its policy of knowing where all its meat comes from, having its own abattoirs which provide its meat products. But there is little doubt that with some cheaper processed products, standards have slipped to a shockingly shoddy extent.

Food manufacturers cannot be allowed to believe that just because a product is processed and might be for sale at a cheap price, then they can relax a little on the checks and balances.

Some might also argue that if someone is prepared to eat meat, then what difference does it make what type of animal it is? There are very good ethical and religious arguments against this, but equally important is the simple fact that if the meat is wrongly labelled, then the product is being miss-sold, and that should not be happening.

If there is one lesson that must be learned from this, it is that the source of all meat products should be very clearly known by the manufacturer, by the retailer, and ultimately by the customer.

Only when that happens can we really be absolutely certain what meat it is we are eating.