Horsemeat poised to make a comeback in the U.S.
Top Chef Canada made headlines (and alienated horse lovers everywhere) earlier this year when it featured horsemeat during a classic French cuisine challenge. The scandal prompted an in-depth investigation of the industry by the ever-intrepid Toronto Star, which explained how a 2007 slaughtering ban in the United States led to a boom in Canada’s industry. Now, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune, horsemeat may be making a return to the U.S. market in the coming months.
Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a five-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month.
Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horsemeat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed into law Nov. 18 to keep the government afloat until mid-December.
Still, as the paper points out, that consumption of horsemeat is practically non-existent in the United States, with prior slaughterhouses shipping their meat to countries in Europe and Asia (Toronto’s La Palette pulled the dish from its menu in the wake of the Star investigation). Horsemeat consumption is often opposed due to uncertain sourcing and inhumane practices, but proponents like Montana senator Max Baucus have argued that the flip side is an increased neglect and abandonment of horses across the United States. How this will shake out for Canada’s slaughterhouses is still unknown.
• Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in U.S. [Chicago Tribune]
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Top Chef Canada made headlines (and alienated horse lovers everywhere) earlier this year when it featured horsemeat during a classic French cuisine challenge. The scandal prompted an in-depth investigation of the industry by the ever-intrepid Toronto Star, which explained how a 2007 slaughtering ban in the United States led to a boom in Canada’s industry. Now, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune, horsemeat may be making a return to the U.S. market in the coming months.
From the Tribune:
Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a five-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month.
Slaughter opponents pushed a measure cutting off funding for horsemeat inspections through Congress in 2006 after other efforts to pass outright bans on horse slaughter failed in previous years. Congress lifted the ban in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed into law Nov. 18 to keep the government afloat until mid-December.
Still, as the paper points out, that consumption of horsemeat is practically non-existent in the United States, with prior slaughterhouses shipping their meat to countries in Europe and Asia (Toronto’s La Palette pulled the dish from its menu in the wake of the Star investigation). Horsemeat consumption is often opposed due to uncertain sourcing and inhumane practices, but proponents like Montana senator Max Baucus have argued that the flip side is an increased neglect and abandonment of horses across the United States. How this will shake out for Canada’s slaughterhouses is still unknown.
• Horses could soon be slaughtered for meat in U.S. [Chicago Tribune]){kind=link}
Even if I will never eat horse meat, I have nothing against the consumption of horse meat, but currently the industry is not regulated humanely and the sources where the horses come from are questionable.
There is not one single farm that I know of that can certified the meat is safe for human consumption and free from dangerous drugs in their farming process.
I think this industry has a lot of work ahead of them.
why the hell would anyone want to eat these majestic animals? it’s sickening. watch this video and see if you feel the same about eating these poor inocent horses that are being lead into a gate and having a nail gun put to their head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywDvcIyBLqU&feature=fvst
Wow.. What’s next on the menu human’s for a appetizer ..
Why not eat a horse? Yes they are used for certain things in our culture , most often for leasure than work. Mongolians are more interconected with their horses than westerners and still have horse as a main food source.Yes you could say would you eat your own dog? No I wouldnt but i would go to the butcher shop and buy packaged dog if i liked the taste of it! If a restaurant in Toronto offered horse i would try it and no one should deprive me of it. Im sick of activists telling me i should only eat fruit, If the world went for the shits, they would be desperate enough to eat a horse aswell. Sick of the stupid attitude towards a potiential market.Id eat a fucking kuala bear if i knew it get my kids through starvation, not interested in doing it right now but would if i had to.