New law to sell Horse meat in US

http://news.yahoo.com/horses-could-soon-slaughtered-meat-us-080907323.html

This is really sad. What's even worse is that there are people who think this also would be a solution to the many homeless dogs and cats, to kill them and sell there meat to eat. Other Countries eat cat and dog meat, and here Horses are Pets, so it's scary to think what will be sold in our Supermarket next!

I think they need to improve all meat farms and stop selling sick animals, inhumane killing, and animals loaded with antibiotics that could make us sick. Farms years ago never raised animals like we do now.

I gave our horse, Al, a big hug today in honor of all those horses who come to a bad end.

Mankind .....not so kind.

I really doubt that even though this meat is (I guess) going to be readily available that a lot of people here will buy and eat it... Eating horse meat has been kind of a taboo thing in the US for a long time. Like how other countries will make blood sausage, but most people over here shudder at the thought.

Horses have been slaughtered in Texas for meat for ages.   The only difference was that the meat was exported overseas (its even eaten raw in Japan on rice, similar to sushi).    So this really isn't changing much of anything, as I doubt the domestic market will be large.

Horse meat is supposed to be MUCH healthier for you than beef though.   Its inherently lean and much higher in iron (21% vs 10% for steak), vitamin B12, B6, niacin, folaate, and omega-3 fatty acids (360mg per 100 compared to 21mg for steak).   Reviews say that it also tastes better to most than lean beef, but that could be because horses are usually fed very high quality diets compared to corn fed beef, and taboo aside it is nutritionally advantageous.  It does beg the question why its ok to eat buffalo and cattle and sheep and pigs but not horses.

People have pet pigs too after all.  

I honestly dont like like how animals are raised for meat, and even for vegetarians, there's tons of vegetables and fruits sold that are bad for you with pesticides and e coli scares. Nothing we eat is really good for us and unless you have your own farm you have no choice but to buy and eat food to live.

It's just that there will be be more cruel slaughtering around now, and people selling there horses for money because they are too lazy to pay for them and care for them and now they get rewarded for that..... and I dont like the idea going around where theyll be killing stray dogs and cats and feeding the homeless with them, a line needs to be drawn.

jessicaromano said:

It's just that there will be be more cruel slaughtering around now, and people selling there horses for money because they are too lazy to pay for them and care for them and now they get rewarded for that..... and I dont like the idea going around where theyll be killing stray dogs and cats and feeding the homeless with them, a line needs to be drawn.

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That's the thing though, I don't think it will have any impact whatsoever.   Look at Australia, its never been illegal, but Australians simply don't eat horse meat.   Like the US, its always been exported to Europe and Japan.

Over two thirds of horse meat was processed right here in Texas since we have so much cheap land, its just that it wasn't advertised and no one really knew about it for the longest time.   There was never a real ban, all they did temporarily was to refuse to grant it USDA inspection, but AFAIK that didn't affect exports, and in fact was worse for horses as many were simply cramped and shipped to Mexico for processing when that big Dallas operation was shut down for various violations (doing a quick google shows around 80 thousand horses sent to Mexico in 2008 alone for example).  

I don't see domestic consumption even accounting for a tiny fraction, for a couple reasons:

1) Obvious stigma since they are graceful companion animals for many Westerners

2) Its very expensive, as horses aren't nearly as efficient as converting calories to meat like ruminants.

So really you'd only likely see it in upscale restaurants due to the price, but since its taboo they would never put it on the menu in most mainstream places. 

Ducman69 said:

That's the thing though, I don't think it will have any impact whatsoever.   Look at Australia, its never been illegal, but Australians simply don't eat horse meat.   Like the US, its always been exported to Europe and Japan.

Over two thirds of horse meat was processed right here in Texas since we have so much cheap land, its just that it wasn't advertised and no one really knew about it for the longest time.   There was never a real ban, all they did temporarily was to refuse to grant it USDA inspection, but AFAIK that didn't affect exports, and in fact was worse for horses as many were simply cramped and shipped to Mexico for processing when that big Dallas operation was shut down for various violations (doing a quick google shows around 80 thousand horses sent to Mexico in 2008 alone for example).  

I don't see domestic consumption even accounting for a tiny fraction, for a couple reasons:

1) Obvious stigma since they are graceful companion animals for many Westerners

2) Its very expensive, as horses aren't nearly as efficient as converting calories to meat like ruminants.

So really you'd only likely see it in upscale restaurants due to the price, but since its taboo they would never put it on the menu in most mainstream places. 

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A few easterners too.

There is, as far as I have been able to sort out through the rants and screaming of both posts on horse boards and legit news articles, no intent of selling horse meat domestically (small pockets excepted as it is NOT illegal to eat/sell horse anywhere in North America with the exception of California). The new US legislation only returns funding for USDA inspectors to inspect the products for export. The real problem with slaughter is lack of proper facilities - a facility has to be pretty much species designated; our local butcher is set for pigs and cows, and was completely asea when presented with a camelid as he didn't have the set-up for it.

Here, in Canada, some NDP MP set a private member's bill on the table to close ALL horse processing plants in Canada, meaning the four remaining ones. I am thinking this bill won't make it past first reading because of the economic impacts to the areas in question.

Ducman69. -  you are correct about the facility in Texas, no funding for inspection and also correct about the market.

Honestly, the best solution would be more, smaller plants scattered over both countries. It would reduce hauling stress and distance and make it easier for someone to privately take a horse in to be put down. This was common 30 years ago for people close to the plants - set up a private kill appointment and the horse was humanely destroyed sometimes with a vet present if a necropsy was desired. The remains were generally rendered rather than processed in this instance as the horse would have been full of assorted drugs and not fit for consumption by human or animal. .

Honestly, it's a good thing. As others have stated, it's been happening, now it will be monitored by the USDA so it will be regulated. Just because we see something as a pet doesn't mean others do. Good grief, we eat cow like nobody's business but cows are sacred in other countries. 

Its all a matter of perspective. 

I don't know what the right thing to do is. As Ducman points out, the lack of funding for USDA inspectors effectively stopped most horse slaughter (in a manner designed for consumption, though not in the US market given lack of demand) and the animals wound up crammed in shipments, usually with no food or water, bound for Mexico. Beyond horrible and cruel. Of course, plenty of our cattle and hogs shipped domestically wind up in those conditions when transported for slaughter.

But horses (at least in the US) are not raised for the purpose of being slaughtered for human consumption anyway, so they're not fed or medicated within any kind of FDA guidelines established for food animals.

If you're going to fund the slaughterhouses, then how they're raised for consumption ought to be regulated, whether the market is domestic or foreign. If you're not going to fund the USDA inspections (effectively ban slaughtering the horses here), then you also need to ban the transport of the horses out of the country (or something) to prevent them from being so cruelly shipped.

It's just a no win situation all the way around.

If you want to request the ban of the slaugherhouses, there are heaps of petitions, just google "stop the horse slaughter."