Horse meat
Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia. The top eight countries consume about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein. It is slightly sweet, tender, low in fat and high in protein.
However, because of the role horses have played as companions and as workers, and concerns about the ethics of the horse slaughter process, it is a taboo food in some cultures. These historical associations, as well as ritual and religion, led to the development of the aversion to the consumption of horse meat. The horse is now given pet status by many in some parts of the Western world, particularly in the U.S.A. and U.K., which further solidifies the taboo on eating its meat. This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it arises out of complex historical and cultural origins.
History
In the late Paleolithic (Magdalenian Era), wild horses formed an important source of food. In many parts of Europe, the consumption of horse meat continued throughout the Middle Ages until modern times, despite a Papal ban of horse meat in 732. Horse meat was also eaten as part of Germanic pagan religious ceremonies in northern Europe, particularly ceremonies associated with the worship of Odin.
Domesticated horses and cattle did not exist in the Americas until the Age of Discovery, and the Conquistadors owed much of their success to their war horses. The Europeans' horses became feral, and were hunted by the indigenous Pehuenche people of what is now Chile and Argentina. At first they hunted horses as they did other game, but later they began to raise them for meat and transport. The meat was, and still is, preserved by being sun-dried in the high Andes into a product known as charqui.
France dates its taste for horse meat to the Revolution. With the fall of the aristocracy, its auxiliaries had to find new means of subsistence. Just as hairdressers and tailors set themselves up to serve commoners, the horses maintained by aristocracy as a sign of prestige ended up alleviating the hunger of lower classes. It was during the Napoleonic campaigns when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, advised the starving troops to eat the meat of horses. At the siege of Alexandria, the meat of young Arab horses relieved an epidemic of scurvy. At the battle of Eylau in 1807, Larrey served horse as soup and bœuf à la mode. In Aspern-Essling (1809), cut from the supply lines, the cavalry used the horses' breastplates as cooking pots and gunpowder as seasoning, and thus founded a tradition.
Hunger during World War II led to horses being eaten
Horse meat gained widespread acceptance in French cuisine during the later years of the Second French Empire. The high cost of living in Paris prevented many working-class citizens from buying meat such as pork or beef, so in 1866 the French government legalized the eating of horse meat and the first butcher's shop specializing in horse meat opened in eastern Paris, providing quality meat at lower prices. During the Siege of 1870-71, horse meat was eaten by anyone who could afford it, partly because of a shortage of fresh meat in the blockaded city, and also because horses were eating grain which was needed by the human populace. Many Parisians gained a taste for horse meat during the siege, and after the war ended, horse meat remained popular. Likewise, in other places and times of siege or starvation, horses are viewed as a food source of last resort.
Despite the general Anglophone taboo, horse and donkey meat was eaten in Britain, especially in Yorkshire, until the 1930s, and in times of post-war food shortage surged in popularity in the United States and was considered for use in hospitals. A 2007 Time magazine article about horse meat brought in from Canada to the United States characterized the meat as sweet, rich, superlean, oddly soft meat, and closer to beef than venison.
Source: Wikipedia
However, because of the role horses have played as companions and as workers, and concerns about the ethics of the horse slaughter process, it is a taboo food in some cultures. These historical associations, as well as ritual and religion, led to the development of the aversion to the consumption of horse meat. The horse is now given pet status by many in some parts of the Western world, particularly in the U.S.A. and U.K., which further solidifies the taboo on eating its meat. This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it arises out of complex historical and cultural origins.
History
In the late Paleolithic (Magdalenian Era), wild horses formed an important source of food. In many parts of Europe, the consumption of horse meat continued throughout the Middle Ages until modern times, despite a Papal ban of horse meat in 732. Horse meat was also eaten as part of Germanic pagan religious ceremonies in northern Europe, particularly ceremonies associated with the worship of Odin.
Domesticated horses and cattle did not exist in the Americas until the Age of Discovery, and the Conquistadors owed much of their success to their war horses. The Europeans' horses became feral, and were hunted by the indigenous Pehuenche people of what is now Chile and Argentina. At first they hunted horses as they did other game, but later they began to raise them for meat and transport. The meat was, and still is, preserved by being sun-dried in the high Andes into a product known as charqui.
France dates its taste for horse meat to the Revolution. With the fall of the aristocracy, its auxiliaries had to find new means of subsistence. Just as hairdressers and tailors set themselves up to serve commoners, the horses maintained by aristocracy as a sign of prestige ended up alleviating the hunger of lower classes. It was during the Napoleonic campaigns when the surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, advised the starving troops to eat the meat of horses. At the siege of Alexandria, the meat of young Arab horses relieved an epidemic of scurvy. At the battle of Eylau in 1807, Larrey served horse as soup and bœuf à la mode. In Aspern-Essling (1809), cut from the supply lines, the cavalry used the horses' breastplates as cooking pots and gunpowder as seasoning, and thus founded a tradition.
Hunger during World War II led to horses being eaten
Horse meat gained widespread acceptance in French cuisine during the later years of the Second French Empire. The high cost of living in Paris prevented many working-class citizens from buying meat such as pork or beef, so in 1866 the French government legalized the eating of horse meat and the first butcher's shop specializing in horse meat opened in eastern Paris, providing quality meat at lower prices. During the Siege of 1870-71, horse meat was eaten by anyone who could afford it, partly because of a shortage of fresh meat in the blockaded city, and also because horses were eating grain which was needed by the human populace. Many Parisians gained a taste for horse meat during the siege, and after the war ended, horse meat remained popular. Likewise, in other places and times of siege or starvation, horses are viewed as a food source of last resort.
Despite the general Anglophone taboo, horse and donkey meat was eaten in Britain, especially in Yorkshire, until the 1930s, and in times of post-war food shortage surged in popularity in the United States and was considered for use in hospitals. A 2007 Time magazine article about horse meat brought in from Canada to the United States characterized the meat as sweet, rich, superlean, oddly soft meat, and closer to beef than venison.
Source: Wikipedia
The barbaric slaughter of retired race horses
in Russia
The above video had been uploaded onto youtube end of February 2013 but was, according to the person who originally uploaded recorded in 2009 - it was said to have been filmed undercover in an abattoir in Russia and that the horses were retired race horses. The video was deleted from youtube a few hours later but Tony Z. had a chance to download it and has uploaded it onto Vimeo later.
The sad existence, the unspeakable suffering and
the horrible dying of Argentinian horses
April 2011 - A team of researchers from the Belgian organisation GAIA revealed shocking abuse and horrible neglect of Argentinian horses before they are send to aboittors and finaly, to be sold at European supermarkets.
The video shows lean heavily neglected horses with suppurating wounds. Horses with broken legs, bitten by dogs and more such atrocities.
The video shows lean heavily neglected horses with suppurating wounds. Horses with broken legs, bitten by dogs and more such atrocities.
Not only Argentinian horses end up on a plate
Each year, millions of horses - riding horses, carriage horses, race horses, wild horses, and children’s ponies - are inhumanely transported and slaughtered, their meat shipped to Europe, China and Japan for human consumption.
Purchased by slaughterhouse middlemen at auction, horses are shipped long distances in cramped trailers without food, water, or rest. The majority of these horses are young, healthy animals who could go on to lead productive lives with loving owners.
Purchased by slaughterhouse middlemen at auction, horses are shipped long distances in cramped trailers without food, water, or rest. The majority of these horses are young, healthy animals who could go on to lead productive lives with loving owners.
The horses' suffering starts already with their
transportation to slaughterhouse
The pictures below show what happens to horses enroute to and at the slaughterhouse, before the slaughtering even begins.
Picture source: New Hope Horse Shelter
Picture source: New Hope Horse Shelter
American horses are being send to Canada and Mexico
Most Americans are against the slaughter of horses. Even though the slaughter of horses has been happening for decades, the average American has no idea that horses are being shipped to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered.
According to 'Animal Rescue Unit', every year nearly 150,000 domestic and wild horses, are being shipped to Canada and Mexico to be butchered for human consumption for foreign delicacies. These are people's pets, family members, faithful farm workers or famous race horses. Their flesh is sold over seas in parts of Europe and Asia.
Most owners who bring their pets to auctions or sell them blindly on classifieds have no idea what happens to their beloved animals. They braid tails, bath , clip, primp, polish horses for an auction thinking they would get a good home, and in return end up in a kill pen.
Horses of virtually all ages and breeds are slaughtered, from draft types to miniatures. Horses commonly slaughtered include unsuccessful race horses, horses who are lame or ill, surplus riding school and camp horses, foals cast off in the nurse mare industry, and foals who are "by products" of the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry, which produces the estrogen-replacement drug Premarin®.
Kill buyers (people who are in the buisness of buying horses for slaughter) have contracts with slaughter plants over the border, and quotas they need to meet. They will attend auctions and buy horses of any shape and size to meet their needs set by the slaughter plant. They generally want to buy the young, fat and healthy, leaving the sick, old and injured for the rescues to 'clean up'.
While slaughter houses have convinced many horse owners that horse slaughter is a necessary evil and that horses are slaughtered humanely, the investigation videos below tell otherwise.
Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a device called a captive bolt gun, which shoots a metal rod into the horse's brain. The captive bolt was designed for cattle not horses, who are a flight animal. Once they see something coming at their face they swing their head to avoid it, causing the captive bolt to slam into the side of their face multiple times before the horses is finally dead. Some horses, however, are only stunned and are conscious when they are hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut.
According to 'Animal Rescue Unit', every year nearly 150,000 domestic and wild horses, are being shipped to Canada and Mexico to be butchered for human consumption for foreign delicacies. These are people's pets, family members, faithful farm workers or famous race horses. Their flesh is sold over seas in parts of Europe and Asia.
Most owners who bring their pets to auctions or sell them blindly on classifieds have no idea what happens to their beloved animals. They braid tails, bath , clip, primp, polish horses for an auction thinking they would get a good home, and in return end up in a kill pen.
Horses of virtually all ages and breeds are slaughtered, from draft types to miniatures. Horses commonly slaughtered include unsuccessful race horses, horses who are lame or ill, surplus riding school and camp horses, foals cast off in the nurse mare industry, and foals who are "by products" of the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry, which produces the estrogen-replacement drug Premarin®.
Kill buyers (people who are in the buisness of buying horses for slaughter) have contracts with slaughter plants over the border, and quotas they need to meet. They will attend auctions and buy horses of any shape and size to meet their needs set by the slaughter plant. They generally want to buy the young, fat and healthy, leaving the sick, old and injured for the rescues to 'clean up'.
While slaughter houses have convinced many horse owners that horse slaughter is a necessary evil and that horses are slaughtered humanely, the investigation videos below tell otherwise.
Under federal law, horses are required to be rendered unconscious prior to slaughter, usually with a device called a captive bolt gun, which shoots a metal rod into the horse's brain. The captive bolt was designed for cattle not horses, who are a flight animal. Once they see something coming at their face they swing their head to avoid it, causing the captive bolt to slam into the side of their face multiple times before the horses is finally dead. Some horses, however, are only stunned and are conscious when they are hoisted by a rear leg to have their throats cut.
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In late February 2010, the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) received hidden camera footage of horse slaughter practices at Viande Richelieu in Quebec and Bouvry Exports in Alberta - the latter known as the largest exporter of horsemeat in North America. The CHDC has compelling proof that puts into question the effectiveness of the assembly-line slaughter of horses. The evidence demonstrates that both the facilities in Alberta and Quebec fail to meet humane slaughter standards used by the CFIA to audit Canadian slaughterhouses.
See Media Coverage:
- CBC The National, Horses Mistreated? CFIA Breaking the Rules, June 3, 2010
- CBC The National, Inside the slaughterhouse, May 17, 2010
- CBC The National, April 23, 2010
- CBC No Country for Horses, June 10, 2008 (click on right sidebar)
- The Globe and Mail
- CTV Calgary
- Canadian Press
- Calgary Sun
- Global TV Go to 32:25 for horse slaughter story airing on April 7, 2010.
Statement from World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is appalled by evidence of grossly inhumane slaughter of horses taking place in Canada. We have been sent video footage that is stated to have been taken recently in Bouvry Exports Calgary Ltd slaughterhouse in Fort Macleod, Alberta and Viande Richelieu Inc./Richelieu Meat Inc. slaughterhouse in Massueville, Quebec.
It is clear that neither the facilities nor the behaviour of the personnel shown are suited to the humane slaughter of horses, and that extreme suffering results for many individual animals. Problems include failure to restrain each animal's head properly before shooting, shooting from too great a distance, shooting in the wrong part of the head or body, failure to follow up with an immediate second shot in animals that were not killed by the first, hoisting apparently conscious animals, and - in the case of the Richelieu plant - cruel handling and treatment of the horses, including excessive whipping and overuse of an electric prod as well as an apparent callous disregard for the animals' suffering. An additional cause of very major concern is the presence of what appear to be either plant supervisors or inspectors who observe the employees' actions and yet do nothing.
The WSPA calls on the appropriate authorities to take immediate action to close both these plants down and ensure that those responsible are disciplined. Neither plant should be reopened until or unless they have been redesigned to meet humane slaughter standards, and all staff in contact with these intelligent animals have been trained to treat them with the dignity they deserve.
Furthermore, as we understand that these are the two largest of only four slaughter plants federally registered and licensed to export horse meat abroad, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food should revoke their registration as well as any export permits immediately. To ensure that similar problems are not occurring at the two other federally registered horse slaughter plants, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) should commission independent audits of those as soon as possible.
Measures must be taken to ensure that procedures at the slaughterhouse are carried out in accordance with legislation, including the Canadian Meat Inspection Act which requires that all animals should be slaughtered humanely. We understand that slaughter should be overseen by the CFIA. That oversight should guarantee avoidance of practices that inflict extreme pain and suffering on slaughtered animals, such as those witnessed here that affect hundreds of animals. The WSPA would be happy to provide advice on appropriate facilities and training for humane slaughter, if require protect d, to helpanimals from needless suffering.
Dr. Debi Zimmermann B.Sc (Zoology), D.V.M.
describes "The numerous acts of willful abuse are also of grave concern in the treatment
of these sentient and non-aggressive animals."
Henry Melvyn Richardson, DVM:
"Bouvry and Richelieu are causing extreme pain and suffering to the horses in their facilities."
Dr. Mary Richardson, DVM concludes:
"As a veterinarian who has worked in the animal welfare field for twenty years, I feel confident that the footage from the Bouvry plant shows levels of suffering that are unacceptable."
Horse slaughter in Mexico
The conditions shown and described below are only in Canada - the situation in Mexico is different.
Horses that are shipped to Mexico are stabbed with a pontilla knife in the spinal cord until paralyzed and then lifted in the air by a back leg and butchered alive.
In 2007 the San Antonio News-Express released a horrifying video that resulted from their investigation of horse slaughter in Juarez Mexico.
Horses that are shipped to Mexico are stabbed with a pontilla knife in the spinal cord until paralyzed and then lifted in the air by a back leg and butchered alive.
In 2007 the San Antonio News-Express released a horrifying video that resulted from their investigation of horse slaughter in Juarez Mexico.
Investigation on horse-slaughter in USA-Mexico
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November 2011 - horse slaughter to start again in the US
After a 5-year hiatus, Congress has restored funding for U.S. inspectors to oversee horse slaughter, opening the door for horses to be killed and butchered in the United States for the first time since 2006.
Horse slaughter is scheduled to restart in the United States, after President Barack Obama signed a bill Nov. 18 reinstating federal funding for Department of Agriculture inspection of horse meat for human consumption and ending a 5-year-old ban.
“They’re signing the death sentence for thousands of our American horses. The wild mustangs in Oklahoma and every horse in Oklahoma is at risk,” Stephanie Graham, an Oklahoma City activist, told The Oklahoman newspaper. “Horses are going to die and it’s going to be brutal.”
Despite the negative feedback the slaughter reinstatement has received from equine lovers, proponents of the bill say the initial ban had unintended consequences, including an increase in neglect and the abandonment of horses, price decreases and a jump in horse exports for overseas slaughter.
“Horse welfare in the United States has generally declined since 2007, as evidenced by a reported increase in horse abandonments and an increase in investigations for horse abuse and neglect,” a report from the Government Accountability Office noted. “The extent of the decline is unknown due to a lack of comprehensive, national data, but state officials attributed the decline in horse welfare to many factors, but primarily to the cessation of domestic slaughter and the U.S. economic downturn.”
According to a pro-slaughter group called United Horsemen, meat processors are now considering opening facilities in at least a half-dozen states, including Georgia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, and possibly Idaho, reported USA-Hitman
Horse slaughter is scheduled to restart in the United States, after President Barack Obama signed a bill Nov. 18 reinstating federal funding for Department of Agriculture inspection of horse meat for human consumption and ending a 5-year-old ban.
“They’re signing the death sentence for thousands of our American horses. The wild mustangs in Oklahoma and every horse in Oklahoma is at risk,” Stephanie Graham, an Oklahoma City activist, told The Oklahoman newspaper. “Horses are going to die and it’s going to be brutal.”
Despite the negative feedback the slaughter reinstatement has received from equine lovers, proponents of the bill say the initial ban had unintended consequences, including an increase in neglect and the abandonment of horses, price decreases and a jump in horse exports for overseas slaughter.
“Horse welfare in the United States has generally declined since 2007, as evidenced by a reported increase in horse abandonments and an increase in investigations for horse abuse and neglect,” a report from the Government Accountability Office noted. “The extent of the decline is unknown due to a lack of comprehensive, national data, but state officials attributed the decline in horse welfare to many factors, but primarily to the cessation of domestic slaughter and the U.S. economic downturn.”
According to a pro-slaughter group called United Horsemen, meat processors are now considering opening facilities in at least a half-dozen states, including Georgia, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, and possibly Idaho, reported USA-Hitman
Animal rights groups in the United States are split over a government decision that will allow the slaughter of horses for meat.
While some are opposed to the practice entirely, others say that if it must occur, it would be better to kill the animals in US-based abbatoirs, where conditions are seen as more humane (!?!)
January 2013 - Cruelty to horses exposed at Red Lion Abattoir, UK
Sky News has uncovered shocking animal welfare conditions at a UK horse abattoir.
They include animals being beaten, neglected and illegal procedures in the process of slaughtering British horses destined for European food markets.
It comes amid public anger that some of our biggest supermarkets have been selling beef burgers and other products that contained horse meat.
Sky News visited the Red Lion Abattoir near Nantwich in Cheshire after concerns were raised by Animal Welfare Group Hillside Animal Sanctuary.
Investigators at Hillside fitted secret cameras which filmed horses being beaten with an iron rod to encourage them into the pens.
Some were then crammed into the slaughter pens in pairs and, on one occasion, a group of three, before being stunned together.
In harrowing images the horses fall on top of each other. Under The Welfare of Animals Act 1995, horses should not be slaughtered in sight of one another because of the distress it causes.
They include animals being beaten, neglected and illegal procedures in the process of slaughtering British horses destined for European food markets.
It comes amid public anger that some of our biggest supermarkets have been selling beef burgers and other products that contained horse meat.
Sky News visited the Red Lion Abattoir near Nantwich in Cheshire after concerns were raised by Animal Welfare Group Hillside Animal Sanctuary.
Investigators at Hillside fitted secret cameras which filmed horses being beaten with an iron rod to encourage them into the pens.
Some were then crammed into the slaughter pens in pairs and, on one occasion, a group of three, before being stunned together.
In harrowing images the horses fall on top of each other. Under The Welfare of Animals Act 1995, horses should not be slaughtered in sight of one another because of the distress it causes.
Furthermore, Sky News found that sick or injured horses were left untended overnight rather than put down immediately.
As a result of the investigation, two slaughter men have had their licences revoked.
Craig Kirby, head of approvals and veterinary advice at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) told Sky News: "As soon as we got the footage and reviewed it we took immediate action to revoke the slaughter men's licences.
"That means they cannot work to slaughter animals again. We will also look to gather further evidence to see if we can prosecute."
Former government chief veterinary officer Keith Meldrum, who viewed the footage, said he was shocked by what he described as "appalling" welfare breaches.
"We see three animals stunned at the same time and it is totally illegal and contrary to welfare slaughter regulations," he said.
"It's a significant welfare problem for a number of reasons. It's harder to render them unconscious in a group and they have a higher chance of regaining consciousness before you've completed the procedure."
Another incident filmed included a horse that appeared to come round from the stun while being hung upside down before being bled. Mr Meldrum described it as "totally and completely unacceptable".
As a result of the investigation, two slaughter men have had their licences revoked.
Craig Kirby, head of approvals and veterinary advice at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) told Sky News: "As soon as we got the footage and reviewed it we took immediate action to revoke the slaughter men's licences.
"That means they cannot work to slaughter animals again. We will also look to gather further evidence to see if we can prosecute."
Former government chief veterinary officer Keith Meldrum, who viewed the footage, said he was shocked by what he described as "appalling" welfare breaches.
"We see three animals stunned at the same time and it is totally illegal and contrary to welfare slaughter regulations," he said.
"It's a significant welfare problem for a number of reasons. It's harder to render them unconscious in a group and they have a higher chance of regaining consciousness before you've completed the procedure."
Another incident filmed included a horse that appeared to come round from the stun while being hung upside down before being bled. Mr Meldrum described it as "totally and completely unacceptable".
Some 8,426 horses were slaughtered in the UK in 2012
FSA statistics released to Sky News show a dramatic increase in the number of UK horses slaughtered every year, from 3,859 in 2007 to 8,426 in 2012.
Depending on the size and breed they are bought for anything between £100 to £300 and can fetch around 700 euro on the European meat markets.
The animals come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are former pets, others come from show jumping or the race track.
A report last year from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) found: "The number of thoroughbreds reported dead to the Horse Passport Issuing Authority rose by 580 - an increase of 29% - from 1994 to 2574 horses.
"Of these, 1127 horses either in training, breeding or out of training were reported as killed in abattoirs - and reported to the Government Meat Hygiene Service - from 499 horses in 2010, an increase of 126%."
However, in a statement to Sky News, the BHA added: "This is a wider equine issue and not an issue for the British racing industry, which is one of the country's most highly regulated equine pursuits.
"However, if there are allegations that any horse, whether thoroughbred or not, is being inhumanely treated in an abattoir we would fully support any investigation and subsequent action, if appropriate."
During the investigation, Hillside Animal Sanctuary rescued one racehorse called Underwriter by bidding against the abattoir at auction. They discovered it had a distinguished career.
John Watson, from Hillside, said: "It's not just ill and old horses being killed. There are very many fit and healthy horses, horses with foals, pregnant mares, and thoroughbreds that are being treated badly.
"It blows away the myth of humane slaughter, and there is a misery in that place that is palpable."
Hillside's lead investigator, who did not want to be identified, added: "What we've found has shocked us deeply; animals left with horrendous injuries and horses shot on top of each other.
"In all the years I've been doing this work, without doubt it's the most harrowing experience I've come across. All the horses in there had their heads hung down."
The Red Lion Abattoir told us it views animal welfare and public health with paramount importance.
In a statement it said: "In attendance at the The Red Lion Abattoir are three full time Food Standards Officers comprising of an official veterinarian and full-time meat hygiene inspectors throughout production."
It said the incidents were "not the norm, but of an isolated nature" and they have taken disciplinary action against the individual featured.
The statement continued: "I agree horses should individually enter the stunning area and most certainly not three at a time.
"However, small horses and ponies having spent years together as companions are difficult to separate. Horse lovers would understand that.
"My opinion and that of other veterinarians is it is better to keep those types together to reduce the stress, providing swift dispatch is achieved."
The Red Lion Abattoir also insisted its meat was not part of the recent supermarket burger scandal.
The horses there are destined to be served in European food markets. The scandal this time is the way they are treated, in the last moments of their lives, in a licensed British abattoir.
Roly Owers, chief executive of World Horse Welfare, viewed the footage and said: "The breaches, from what we've seen, are throughout; from the care of the animals to the slaughter process.
"Horses are intelligent animals. When they see an animal stunned in front of them you can only imagine the distress that animal is going through. There are, without doubt, welfare issues here and it is plain illegal."
The RSPCA said "The footage is shocking and upsetting to watch." They have requested a full copy of the film with a view to investigating.
Depending on the size and breed they are bought for anything between £100 to £300 and can fetch around 700 euro on the European meat markets.
The animals come from a variety of backgrounds. Some are former pets, others come from show jumping or the race track.
A report last year from the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) found: "The number of thoroughbreds reported dead to the Horse Passport Issuing Authority rose by 580 - an increase of 29% - from 1994 to 2574 horses.
"Of these, 1127 horses either in training, breeding or out of training were reported as killed in abattoirs - and reported to the Government Meat Hygiene Service - from 499 horses in 2010, an increase of 126%."
However, in a statement to Sky News, the BHA added: "This is a wider equine issue and not an issue for the British racing industry, which is one of the country's most highly regulated equine pursuits.
"However, if there are allegations that any horse, whether thoroughbred or not, is being inhumanely treated in an abattoir we would fully support any investigation and subsequent action, if appropriate."
During the investigation, Hillside Animal Sanctuary rescued one racehorse called Underwriter by bidding against the abattoir at auction. They discovered it had a distinguished career.
John Watson, from Hillside, said: "It's not just ill and old horses being killed. There are very many fit and healthy horses, horses with foals, pregnant mares, and thoroughbreds that are being treated badly.
"It blows away the myth of humane slaughter, and there is a misery in that place that is palpable."
Hillside's lead investigator, who did not want to be identified, added: "What we've found has shocked us deeply; animals left with horrendous injuries and horses shot on top of each other.
"In all the years I've been doing this work, without doubt it's the most harrowing experience I've come across. All the horses in there had their heads hung down."
The Red Lion Abattoir told us it views animal welfare and public health with paramount importance.
In a statement it said: "In attendance at the The Red Lion Abattoir are three full time Food Standards Officers comprising of an official veterinarian and full-time meat hygiene inspectors throughout production."
It said the incidents were "not the norm, but of an isolated nature" and they have taken disciplinary action against the individual featured.
The statement continued: "I agree horses should individually enter the stunning area and most certainly not three at a time.
"However, small horses and ponies having spent years together as companions are difficult to separate. Horse lovers would understand that.
"My opinion and that of other veterinarians is it is better to keep those types together to reduce the stress, providing swift dispatch is achieved."
The Red Lion Abattoir also insisted its meat was not part of the recent supermarket burger scandal.
The horses there are destined to be served in European food markets. The scandal this time is the way they are treated, in the last moments of their lives, in a licensed British abattoir.
Roly Owers, chief executive of World Horse Welfare, viewed the footage and said: "The breaches, from what we've seen, are throughout; from the care of the animals to the slaughter process.
"Horses are intelligent animals. When they see an animal stunned in front of them you can only imagine the distress that animal is going through. There are, without doubt, welfare issues here and it is plain illegal."
The RSPCA said "The footage is shocking and upsetting to watch." They have requested a full copy of the film with a view to investigating.
Please sign the petition
calling upon the Food Standards Agency to fully review the footage taken at the Red Lion Abattoir by Hillside Animal Sanctuary, with a view to prosecuting those responsible for breaches of the
Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations of 1995
Consuming the meat of horses that were not intended
for human consumption is dangerous
It was established that horse meat contains unhealthy amounts of carcinogenic such as Phenylbutazone. This drug is more commonly known as "Bute" and is given for the same purpose and as often as Aspirin. It is banned for use in any animal intended for human consumption.
It causes serious and lethal adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early Alzheimer disease. (Source)
It causes serious and lethal adverse effects in humans. The known carcinogen, even in very small doses, can cause bone marrow suppression, cancer, birth defects and early Alzheimer disease. (Source)
Trojan Horse Meat
A New York chef planned to serve raw horse meat. It would have been a disaster—but not for the reason you think.
By James McWilliams - Posted Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 at www.slate.com
At Brooklyn’s Great GoogaMooga food festival last May, Hugue Dufour, the noted chef who’d co-founded the acclaimed M. Wells Diner, sold 5,000 grilled-cheese sandwiches that created quite a buzz among New York foodies. That’s because Dufour’s creation was stuffed with foie gras, pork fat, and—the rogue ingredient that titillated adventurous eaters—horse meat (mixed with pork to make bologna).
Last month, Dufour sought to capitalize on his food-festival fame by announcing that the reincarnation of his restaurant—M. Wells Dinette, now open in Queens at MoMA PS1--would serve horse tartare: raw horse meat. This time the reaction wasn’t so enthusiastic. Public opposition was widespread: People flooded the restaurant with calls, bombarded Dufour with emails, and amassed an outraged scroll of signatures on a Change.org petition demanding that Dufour drop the equine delicacy. Chastened, Dufour, who ate horse meat while training to be a chef in Canada, removed the item from the menu, judiciously noting in a statement from the restaurant that “scandalizing animal lovers is not what we want to be famous for.”
There will always be a cohort of libertarian epicureans who believe that nothing—especially not animal lovers—should come between a horse and the human palate. Nonetheless, Dufour’s decision is a wise one—although probably not for the reason he or his consumers might suspect. The real threat to any retailer that serves horse meat isn’t the drumbeat of opposition that will inevitably resound from horse lovers. It’s the hazard that horse meat poses to public health. Horse meat is, in essence, an industrial byproduct. For that reason alone, Dufour had no business tempting patrons with the exotic, extralegal treat—no matter how great it supposedly tastes. (Dufour didn’t respond to my requests for comment for this article.)
Consider the supply chain. In 2011, almost 140,000 horses from the United States were sent to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. (The last American horse slaughterhouse closed in 2007.) Many of the horses that landed in these across-the-border abattoirs were thoroughbreds from the U.S. horse racing industry. Others came from prolific quarter horse breeders, who send horses into racing, ranching, and rodeos. Racing in particular is a controversial business marked by overbreeding, early racehorse retirement, and extensive drug use. (The New York Times has laid bare the harrowing evidence this year in an excellent series called “Breakdown: Death and Disarray at America’s Racetracks.”) Indeed, many racehorses essentially become pharmaceutical dumping grounds throughout their artificially stimulated, sedated, and numbed lives. The chemicals that course through the blood and lodge in the flesh of many thoroughbreds and quarter horses might ease their pain and treat their diseases, but they also make these animals distinctly unfit for a GoogaMooga sandwich.
The irony here is instructive. American consumers—especially the kind that attend food festivals that serve horse sandwiches—are, as a rule, deeply opposed to the way factory farms saturate confined animals with growth hormones, vaccines, and antibiotics. But the medications turning them off conventionally produced meat are at least regulated—unlike the toxicological residue in horse flesh. Until horses are specifically raised for their meat, and effectively regulated by the USDA as a discrete food product (both of which I hope never happen), this situation is unlikely to change.
As matters now stand, the horse-racing industry, which is notorious for its reliance on overmedication, is a driving force behind the production and oversight of horse meat. Few aspects of the global food system are more absurd—the horse industry, after all, has about as much interest in safe food as the coal industry. To wit: A single racehorse’s personal history of drug use almost certainly includes Banamine (an anti-inflammatory), Clenbuterol (a steroid), Ivermectin (dewormer), and Lasix (an anti-bleeding drug), and might also include snake venom (which deadens nerves in horses’ joints) and other steroids (which are banned but still sometimes used by unscrupulous vets). Trainers and veterinarians, needless to say, aren’t thinking about human health when they administer these medications before the bets are placed and the gates are opened.
The most common pharmacological concern when it comes to horse meat is an anti-inflammatory drug called phenylbutazone, or “bute.” Whatever the exact lineup of drugs administered, many racehorses receive a steady dosage of bute. For all its effectiveness in treating horse pain, however, bute, a carcinogen, is strongly linked with bone marrow and liver problems in humans. In fact, the danger it poses is so acute that the FDA has banned its use in animals intended for human consumption because, according to one peer-reviewed study in Food and Chemical Toxicology, “it causes serious and lethal idiosyncratic adverse effects in humans.”
As the furor over Dufour’s proposed menu item began to die down early this month, Eater New York declared: “The M. Wells Horse Tartare Scandal Is Officially Over.” And recent (unconfirmed) reports that Canada may be halting import of American horses for slaughter seems like more good news for those concerned about horse meat safety. But if you’re breathing a sigh of relief, hold your horses. Last June, a Wyoming-based company called Unified Equine announced that it would be opening a horse-meat processing plant in Missouri with plans to distribute the meat globally and domestically. “USDA,” the company told a local news station, “will oversee and verify the food safety of all products.” Noting that “the United States has the safest food supply in the world,” Unified Equine CEO Sue Wallis further explained to me in an email that the USDA has “been thoroughly reviewing their equine inspection protocols” and that “they are close to being done with this process.”
Let’s hope the USDA gets a rigorous inspection system in place. But critics of equine slaughter still have their concerns. According to John Holland, who co-founded the anti-horse-slaughter nonprofit Equine Welfare Alliance, “American horses receive over 100 medications that are not permitted in food animals.” Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian, told me that safe horse meat was unlikely because “chances of there being bute in the horses are very high and bute is not approved for human consumption by the FDA.” Vickery Eckhoff, a reporter for Forbes who has extensively covered the issue of horse slaughter (and who probably knows more about it than any other working journalist), recently called the USDA to ask how they might deal with phenylbutazone. The representative with whom she spoke had never heard of the drug, and even had to ask how it was spelled.
It’s tempting to suggest: i-m-p-e-n-d-i-n-g d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r.
By James McWilliams - Posted Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 at www.slate.com
At Brooklyn’s Great GoogaMooga food festival last May, Hugue Dufour, the noted chef who’d co-founded the acclaimed M. Wells Diner, sold 5,000 grilled-cheese sandwiches that created quite a buzz among New York foodies. That’s because Dufour’s creation was stuffed with foie gras, pork fat, and—the rogue ingredient that titillated adventurous eaters—horse meat (mixed with pork to make bologna).
Last month, Dufour sought to capitalize on his food-festival fame by announcing that the reincarnation of his restaurant—M. Wells Dinette, now open in Queens at MoMA PS1--would serve horse tartare: raw horse meat. This time the reaction wasn’t so enthusiastic. Public opposition was widespread: People flooded the restaurant with calls, bombarded Dufour with emails, and amassed an outraged scroll of signatures on a Change.org petition demanding that Dufour drop the equine delicacy. Chastened, Dufour, who ate horse meat while training to be a chef in Canada, removed the item from the menu, judiciously noting in a statement from the restaurant that “scandalizing animal lovers is not what we want to be famous for.”
There will always be a cohort of libertarian epicureans who believe that nothing—especially not animal lovers—should come between a horse and the human palate. Nonetheless, Dufour’s decision is a wise one—although probably not for the reason he or his consumers might suspect. The real threat to any retailer that serves horse meat isn’t the drumbeat of opposition that will inevitably resound from horse lovers. It’s the hazard that horse meat poses to public health. Horse meat is, in essence, an industrial byproduct. For that reason alone, Dufour had no business tempting patrons with the exotic, extralegal treat—no matter how great it supposedly tastes. (Dufour didn’t respond to my requests for comment for this article.)
Consider the supply chain. In 2011, almost 140,000 horses from the United States were sent to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. (The last American horse slaughterhouse closed in 2007.) Many of the horses that landed in these across-the-border abattoirs were thoroughbreds from the U.S. horse racing industry. Others came from prolific quarter horse breeders, who send horses into racing, ranching, and rodeos. Racing in particular is a controversial business marked by overbreeding, early racehorse retirement, and extensive drug use. (The New York Times has laid bare the harrowing evidence this year in an excellent series called “Breakdown: Death and Disarray at America’s Racetracks.”) Indeed, many racehorses essentially become pharmaceutical dumping grounds throughout their artificially stimulated, sedated, and numbed lives. The chemicals that course through the blood and lodge in the flesh of many thoroughbreds and quarter horses might ease their pain and treat their diseases, but they also make these animals distinctly unfit for a GoogaMooga sandwich.
The irony here is instructive. American consumers—especially the kind that attend food festivals that serve horse sandwiches—are, as a rule, deeply opposed to the way factory farms saturate confined animals with growth hormones, vaccines, and antibiotics. But the medications turning them off conventionally produced meat are at least regulated—unlike the toxicological residue in horse flesh. Until horses are specifically raised for their meat, and effectively regulated by the USDA as a discrete food product (both of which I hope never happen), this situation is unlikely to change.
As matters now stand, the horse-racing industry, which is notorious for its reliance on overmedication, is a driving force behind the production and oversight of horse meat. Few aspects of the global food system are more absurd—the horse industry, after all, has about as much interest in safe food as the coal industry. To wit: A single racehorse’s personal history of drug use almost certainly includes Banamine (an anti-inflammatory), Clenbuterol (a steroid), Ivermectin (dewormer), and Lasix (an anti-bleeding drug), and might also include snake venom (which deadens nerves in horses’ joints) and other steroids (which are banned but still sometimes used by unscrupulous vets). Trainers and veterinarians, needless to say, aren’t thinking about human health when they administer these medications before the bets are placed and the gates are opened.
The most common pharmacological concern when it comes to horse meat is an anti-inflammatory drug called phenylbutazone, or “bute.” Whatever the exact lineup of drugs administered, many racehorses receive a steady dosage of bute. For all its effectiveness in treating horse pain, however, bute, a carcinogen, is strongly linked with bone marrow and liver problems in humans. In fact, the danger it poses is so acute that the FDA has banned its use in animals intended for human consumption because, according to one peer-reviewed study in Food and Chemical Toxicology, “it causes serious and lethal idiosyncratic adverse effects in humans.”
As the furor over Dufour’s proposed menu item began to die down early this month, Eater New York declared: “The M. Wells Horse Tartare Scandal Is Officially Over.” And recent (unconfirmed) reports that Canada may be halting import of American horses for slaughter seems like more good news for those concerned about horse meat safety. But if you’re breathing a sigh of relief, hold your horses. Last June, a Wyoming-based company called Unified Equine announced that it would be opening a horse-meat processing plant in Missouri with plans to distribute the meat globally and domestically. “USDA,” the company told a local news station, “will oversee and verify the food safety of all products.” Noting that “the United States has the safest food supply in the world,” Unified Equine CEO Sue Wallis further explained to me in an email that the USDA has “been thoroughly reviewing their equine inspection protocols” and that “they are close to being done with this process.”
Let’s hope the USDA gets a rigorous inspection system in place. But critics of equine slaughter still have their concerns. According to John Holland, who co-founded the anti-horse-slaughter nonprofit Equine Welfare Alliance, “American horses receive over 100 medications that are not permitted in food animals.” Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinarian, told me that safe horse meat was unlikely because “chances of there being bute in the horses are very high and bute is not approved for human consumption by the FDA.” Vickery Eckhoff, a reporter for Forbes who has extensively covered the issue of horse slaughter (and who probably knows more about it than any other working journalist), recently called the USDA to ask how they might deal with phenylbutazone. The representative with whom she spoke had never heard of the drug, and even had to ask how it was spelled.
It’s tempting to suggest: i-m-p-e-n-d-i-n-g d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r.
US horse meat banned in the EU
CHICAGO, MARCH 20, 2013 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since Congress lifted the ban on USDA inspections of horse meat, several small shuttered cattle slaughter plants have clamored for the USDA to provide horse meat inspections. Ricardo De Los Santos of Valley Meats, a New Mexico plant, went as far as to sue the USDA for not providing the service. The attorney for Valley Meats has announced it will be opening in three weeks.
Unfortunately for those wishing to bring horse slaughter back to the US, they will have to do so without the ability to sell to the EU, the main market for US horse meat. The Equine Welfare Alliance has received confirmation from EU authorities that "by virtue of Commission decision 2011/163/EU the US is not authorized to export horsemeat to the EU."
The decision was made in 2011, when the USDA neglected to comply with new regulations requiring submittal of a drug residue control program. Approval of such an application requires extensive review as well as audits and can take up to several years to complete.
The EU authority (SANCO) went on to say "Our Directorate General, up to now, does not record a recent residue monitoring plan on horse meat submitted by USDA." In other words, the process has yet to begin.
The scandal over horse meat being substituted for beef in a myriad of products, as well as the finding of the banned drug phenylbutazone in some of those products has further dimmed the prospects for a lifting of the ban.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in an interview with Reuters, said sequestration could cause sporadic food shortages if inspectors aren't available to examine meat, poultry and egg products. Obviously, providing inspectors for horse meat would further exacerbate the need to protect US consumers. Vilsack shocked many today when he was quoted as saying he hoped that Congress could come up with an alternative to horse slaughter.
EWA's John Holland explains the bleak prospects for private horse slaughter plants in the US, saying "these plants will have no access to the markets even if the EU ban is lifted because the distribution is controlled by a few multi-nationals, and those expecting to contract with these companies should heed the story of Natural Valley Farms (SK Canada) which lost millions trying to do so."
EWA is a dues free, all volunteer 501(c)(4) umbrella organization representing over 270 member organizations and 1,000 individual members worldwide in 18 countries. www.equinewelfarealliance.org
Source: Herald Online
Unfortunately for those wishing to bring horse slaughter back to the US, they will have to do so without the ability to sell to the EU, the main market for US horse meat. The Equine Welfare Alliance has received confirmation from EU authorities that "by virtue of Commission decision 2011/163/EU the US is not authorized to export horsemeat to the EU."
The decision was made in 2011, when the USDA neglected to comply with new regulations requiring submittal of a drug residue control program. Approval of such an application requires extensive review as well as audits and can take up to several years to complete.
The EU authority (SANCO) went on to say "Our Directorate General, up to now, does not record a recent residue monitoring plan on horse meat submitted by USDA." In other words, the process has yet to begin.
The scandal over horse meat being substituted for beef in a myriad of products, as well as the finding of the banned drug phenylbutazone in some of those products has further dimmed the prospects for a lifting of the ban.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in an interview with Reuters, said sequestration could cause sporadic food shortages if inspectors aren't available to examine meat, poultry and egg products. Obviously, providing inspectors for horse meat would further exacerbate the need to protect US consumers. Vilsack shocked many today when he was quoted as saying he hoped that Congress could come up with an alternative to horse slaughter.
EWA's John Holland explains the bleak prospects for private horse slaughter plants in the US, saying "these plants will have no access to the markets even if the EU ban is lifted because the distribution is controlled by a few multi-nationals, and those expecting to contract with these companies should heed the story of Natural Valley Farms (SK Canada) which lost millions trying to do so."
EWA is a dues free, all volunteer 501(c)(4) umbrella organization representing over 270 member organizations and 1,000 individual members worldwide in 18 countries. www.equinewelfarealliance.org
Source: Herald Online
