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Subscribe to RSSThe discovery of horse DNA in food products sold throughout Europe has set off a scandal, shaking confidence in Europe's food industry and angering consumers.
But believe it or not, it’s actually legal to slaughter horses for human consumption in the U.S. In November 2011, Congress quietly lifted a five-year ban on funding for horse processing inspections.
Since the ban was lifted, no horse slaughterhouses have successfully opened, according to Holly Hazard, a senior vice president at the Humane Society of the United States who tracks equine rights issues.
“We have yet to have a new [horse processing] facility open in this country,” Hazard said, adding that attempts to open slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Missouri last year were scrapped due to public outrage.
Related: 'Criminal conspiracy' blamed for European horse-in-burger scandal
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said that if a horse slaughtering plant were to open, the agency would perform inspections to ensure it complied with federal laws.
Before Congress defunded inspections in 2007, there were just three equine processing plants in the continental U.S. -- two in Texas, one in Illinois. All three facilities were shuttered when the slaughtering ban took effect, the Associated Press reported.
At the peak of their production powers, these slaughterhouses primarily exported horsemeat to Mexico and Canada for human consumption, Hazard said.
One advocate of selling horse meat said that the removal of the ban allows the horse processing industry to regain a foothold in the market.
"Eighty percent of a $102 billion-a-year industry was directly affected when they took slaughter away," said David Duquette, president of the United Horsemen, a group that lobbied to lift the ban.
Duquette added that there are ongoing efforts to revive the horse meat processing industry, but declined to provide additional information about those attempts.
Animal rights activists, meanwhile, are confident that widespread repulsion at the thought of eating horse meat will keep it out of the mainstream.
"There are certainly communities that have considered [reviving horse slaughtering]," said Nancy Perry, a senior vice president at the ASPCA. But the vast majority of Americans -- a staggering 80 percent, according to a recent ASPCA poll -- oppose the practice, Perry said.
'Companions and partners, not food'
Polling data and public opinion suggest it's highly unlikely horse meat will move to the center of American culinary culture. After all, they’re the stars of beloved children’s literature, Hollywood movies, and Wild West folklore.
“We believe horses are iconic figures in American culture,” Hazard said. “The vast majority of Americans think they’re companions and partners, not food.”
Hazard said she’s not aware of any attempts to introduce horse meat on restaurant menus. The one exception: a proposal, in September of last year, to serve Canadian-bred horse tartare -- also known as raw horse meat -- at a museum restaurant in New York City.
However, M. Wells Dinette's prospective menu item at MoMA PS1 was scuttled after animal rights activists and public health officials cried foul.
The restaurant’s chef and co-owner, Hugue Dufour, released a statement after the controversy subsided defending his exotic dish.
“We thought about serving it because we like to offer customers new things,” the statement said. “Whatever else horses are – draft animals, companions, transport – their meat is also delicious and affordable.”
Nevertheless, most Americans still consider horse meat off-limits, although that hasn't always been the case.
At the close of World War II, when beef was in short supply, many Americans got their protein boosts from horse meat. Republicans blamed the meat scarcity on President Truman, giving him the nickname “Horsemeat Harry.”
During the early 1970s, beef prices went through the roof, forcing cash-strapped shoppers to buy cheap horse meat instead. The custom was so common it showed up as a subplot on a 1973 episode of the sitcom “All in the Family.”
Harvard University’s Faculty Club reportedly served horse meat for more than 100 years before it dropped the menu item in the 1980s.
Related:
'Fraud on a massive scale': Europe's horse meat scandal keeps on growing
Leave a Comment:
Anybody watch the movie SOYLENT GREEN? With earth's overpopulation, horsemeat is not going to be a good option.
Virginia,
Why is horse meat not a good option?
Soylent Green was a movie; not a documentary and it was "people" not horse.
Stop being silly.
I have been waffling back and forth all week long about whether to become a vegan after recently experiencing an NDE. I don't think it will be a hard decision anymore. I start tomorrow after reading this.
What does NDE has to do with it...vegans don't die? Got any extra meat in the freezer you don't want?
A horse is just as much a food item as a pig or a lamb. It is just a cultural thing; there's no inherent "suitability for food" that a pig has that a horse doesn't. Meat is meat.
A horse is a horse of course unless he's on you're plate. My God, thats as bad as eating you're car. A horse is a ride and should be sheltered and taken care of, not eaten. Next thing you know we'll be eating man's best friend, the dog. People who eat horse meat need to be horse whipped.
A pig is a pig, chicken a chicken so what ....George Clooney has a pig for a pet and he thinks no one should eat bacon.
What is wrong with dog or cat.
I have had all of the "ok" meat allowed in the US. I have also eaten dog and monkey and some that I was not so sure about. It was ALL good!
It is not wrong to eat horse. You may not like it but there is nothing immoral about it.
hotdogs! horsemeat burger! horsemeat kabobs!
how do you do it?
first, run 'em to death in horse race tracks. You know, for a wager. Then gobble up as fifty fifty beef horsemeat burger on the cheap and plenty like EU. Next. kabobs skewers!!! Best to gobble 'em then to send 'em to the glue factory *alive*. yikes....
Er, em, if horsemeat doesn't cause a horse to kick you when you come near, I don't mind eating it if it taste like grass fed beef. That's two ifs folks!.
prepare it right .... some onion, salt, pepper, mushroom etc.
If they were ever going to attempt to sell horse meat in the US, They better make sure they have a huge colorful label with big bold letters saying it contains horse meat......so I can make sure I never buy it.
It should not be hidden. That is all.
Korean eat dog, part of Indian don't eat cow, Muslim don't eat pig....we look at them and think they are weird, they look at American not eating horse and think the same thing...weird!
It is in your mind....
Maybe if the horse was allowed to run free, and then when it's older and dying--killed humanely...it's hypocritical to eat one animal and not another. I think people should eat a lot less meat anyway.
Good, I can help you, I will take your share
That's disgusting, I would never eat a horse....i'll stick to cow or deer, some animals breed faster than others. How many do you think were stolen pet horses that were slaughtered?
I am not sure your point? that people steal or a stolen horse taste different than a wild one. Kind of like a salmon huh? Wild versus farm raised?
Virginia, None.
Americans don't eat many things eaten around the World. It's simply because we don't have to and don't choose it. As opposed to Asians that choose to eat any thing and everything.
This subject is a good example of the difference of what is legal and what is moral. the two are not necessarily equal.
A few corrections needed in this story:
Congress defunded inspections in 2006, but the plants arranged fee-for service inspections with the USDA. That was found to be illegal in 2007, after which the plants closed.
The U.S. exported horses to Canada and Mexico, not horse meat. The main export market for US horse meat has always been Europe and Japan.
David Duquette heads a breeding organization that wants slaughter houses so it can continue to indiscriminately breed and cull horses. It makes money on foal registration, so the more foals produced, registered, the more Duquette's organization earns. Naturally, then you have too many horses, so you want to be able to sell them for meat and make $$. Duquette has never, will never embrace responsibility as a breeder.
Horse meat is unsafe to eat, full of drugs prohibited by the FDA in food animals. Phenylbutazone is the most prevalent banned drug and is a known carcinogen.
M. Wells isn't telling the truth about why they didn't serve horse meat. The real reason is 1) he couldn't get any more legally from Canada 2) he was made aware of food safety issues due to Phenylbutazone and 3) he didn't want to get in trouble with the authorities.
Sous chef Aidan O'Neal himself told me the horse they planned to serve was U.S. horse slaughtered in Canada.
would be different if used for food I am sure
It's definitely criminal to trick people - to misrepresent a food product. But Americans and some Europeans are just too spoiled, they've never really been hungry. One of these days, I'm afraid people in this country will find out the hard way what real hunger is and they'll wish they had one little bite of anything that resembled meat. It's insane to see all that meat being dumped with so many people starving in this world.
horse meat isnt' that bad tasting actually. Not big on eating dog like asians do... as too stringy. I have no idea what the animal rights issue is. They would ban eating burgers and insects if they could.
You got it...there even some out there that think plants have feeling too.
Over 80% of people in the US DO NOT WANT HORSE SLAUGHTER PLANTS HERE. This figure is not going to change. So,if you want to eat horsemeat, move your butt to Belgium where you can be poisoned with the meat of US horses....yes, poisoned....most of the drugs given to our US horses are labelled: "Not intended for Horses Intended for Human Consumption". And a correction to a previous comment.....slaughter plants in the US were no more humane than the ones in Canada or Mexico despite USDA inspectors. The proof is in the YouTube videos available......videos of when US slaughter plants were open.
How do you kill anything humanely.... outside of not torturing first which seems a little off ? ALso, there are very few vegans in the world , most of the soup basis are uusally animal protein. Also, ever think how many insects get butchered in a basket of grain? Insects have feelings too.
The packerhouse price was always a stabilizing factor in horse prices. When the ban went into effect I noticed a lot more neglected horses. A lot of people like the idea of having a horse (or "saving" a horse as I've seen from some pretty silly characters) but don't realize how much money it takes to keep one up. In the past they could sell it because there was a market. But when the ban came into effect, within a few months people were trying to just give the horses away to get out from under the cost of feeding them. I've used horses all my life for work and I respect them. And although I'd probably not eat horse meat myself, I don't see any reason why other folks can't. I guess the short of all this, I'd rather see a market for horse meat than to see horses neglected for years on end.
I was fed horse in France many years ago. It was good, though I'm not a huge meat fan, but the heated up leftovers were like shoe leather. It's all down to mindset, though, isn't it? It's venison, not Bambi the deer. It's pork, not Babe the pig. It's beef, not Bessie the cow. If we can just think up a fancy name (ideally derived from French) for horse meat, we'll be good to go. (*mild sarcasm*)
Wilbur,
You gotta help me out here.
-Ed
The Harvard Faculty Club listed pony steak rather than horse meat. Served, as I recall, with a horseradish sauce. It was brought back after WWII due to popular demand, and priced about the same as beef. Tasted about the same, after you got over that squeamish feeling in your gut. Of course, the slaughtered horses had never been pets.
Some people with pet animals (such as rabbit) are happy to dine on similar beasts raised for food, but would never consider slaughtering their pet. Some farmers take loving care of their animals for a year, and then send them to the slaughterhouse.
It's a matter of taste, and expectation.
Why cow burgers and not horse burgers? The Old West tradition aside, cows are just as intelligent and friendly as horses. Either eat both, or make both sacred.
Capitalism will turn us into cannibals. Hitler was bad, but Capitalism is no less horrific. Anything for the bottom line, the most for the cheap, no work, no mind, no education, no courage, no morals, and justice. Nothing, just the bottom line. We need to get rid of the law that says it's ok to kill and eat horses. How absolutely insane. Plants are easy to grow, everyone can eat them, they help the environment, but it's too costly. Meat, we already kill chickens, cows, sheep, etc on a mass scale and throw half of it away. We feed them anything that is cheap including their own meat which has lead to mad cow disease. We will drone them with pesticides and hormones all for that extra buck to buy another I phone made in China for the extra buck. Capitalism is really no different than what Hitler did we just don't see it yet. Video games that have become more violent, advertizing to our young. Hay, it's a job and money. There needs to be no regulations on them or the bankers or the wallstreeters, because it's ok, it's capitalism we have a right to make money anyway we want. The drug cartels can tell us what it's all about. Life is expendable for the buck.
We need to say no, to the buck unless it can be shown it's usefullness to making life better for the whole of American, not a few in their mansions at the cost of all others. Drug cartels dons need to be stopped because the benefit is not to those who get the money destroying others to make money. That's where capitalism leads if it doesn't have some rational humane rules and regulations for the whole.
Capitalism was held at bay with the communism, but now it has no enemy to put limitations on it. Environmentalists try to say return to earth mind, not money mind, but the sweet song of money deafens their cries. It's unfortunate but killing horses for the bottom line is another decline into moral stupidity.
I remember there was an argument about it several years ago, I think it was the 80s, that the Mustangs were being over culled and they weren't even leaving the healthier horses behind. They were taken indiscriminately because the horse hunters made money off of what they caught.
I think if horsemeat factories are started up the wild herds will pay most for it again.
So Congress 'quietly lifted the ban' on killing horses for meat. Judging by the fact that no one can open a horse-butchering business even after that due to public outrage, Congress failed to meet the American people's expectations and better remedy the error quickly, before we get really p!ssed.
Obama signed the legislation allowing it, you know.
I raised & worked horses for about 35 years. I love them. They are beautiful to look at, a pleasure to work with, and very good to eat. They are no smarter than any other grass eating animal. It is the fact that people usually don't raise cows, pigs, goats, sheep, etc as pets to become familiar with their intelligence that give the impression horses are smarter. When they ended slaughter in the US it was a great disservice to the horse. They lost value as there was no market for the excess stock. Horses went from a value averaging $500.00 + per head to the point where you couldn't give them away. Irresponsible owners who now could not sell unwanted horses killed them, turned them out, or just stopped feeding. The overpopulation of the mustangs on the range has caused thousands to starve and destroyed the land they lived on due to overpopulation. So I must ask, who was this good for?
I agree totally, animal is animal. The same goes for dogs too... if you've met a pig you'd be surprised how that animal is way smarter and way more personable than a dog, yet you don't think twice about having it carved on the table, complete with snots stuffed with apple and all.
this whole animal rights thing that pick and choose on which animal get it or don't is pure hogwash, pun intended.
Blame the liberals for this crap. Mostly a bunch of washed up hippies from the 1960s
I don't eat no hossy.