La Palette pulls horsemeat from its menu following Star exposé
Yesterday we dove into the Toronto Star’s hard-hitting investigation of the horsemeat industry in Canada. Among those implicated was Queen West bistro La Palette, where horsemeat has been a staple. Well, those days are over (for now), as this morning La Palette co-owner Shamez Amlani went on CBC’s Metro Morning to announce that as of today horsemeat has been removed from their menu.
“Certainly our decision is not based on any moral issues around serving horsemeat,” Amlani told host Matt Galloway earlier today. “What is [alleged] in the article is that the meat we’re getting is not exactly from animals that have been raised for eating, which poses a slew of problems. One is the chemicals that the animals might have been exposed to. [Another] is the ethical treatment of the animals.”
La Palette, he said, has been serving horsemeat dishes for over 10 years, but prior to the U.S. ban on slaughtering horses for consumption in 2007, Amlani knew exactly where his horses were sourced. Since then, however, a lot has changed. “Back in the day we were getting horses raised specifically for eating.…They never had a saddle on their back, and they were never exposed to [the horse painkiller] PBZ”.
After reading the Star article, Amlani apparently called up the slaughterhouse that supplies his product and decided to embark on an investigation of his own. “I wasn’t quite impressed with the results,” Amlani said. “As it turns out… they do get horses that were raised for consumption in Canada… from Alberta and Ontario. But they also admitted that they are buying horses from auctions in the United States, and according to [a plant representative] they get mixed into the same stream, which doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Still, Amlani maintained that there’s nothing wrong with eating horsemeat in principle. “We’ve defended the consumption of horsemeat as being something that is culturally acceptable in most of the world….Even within North America, the Mexicans and Québécois would say that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with consuming horsemeat—and we would agree. But if these particular horses aren’t being treated well then we want no part of it.” Still, he said that if La Palette were able to find a source that could supply the restaurant with horses raised for the purpose of consumption, the restaurant would reverse its decision.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/la-palette-horsemeat/&title=La Palette pulls horsemeat from its menu following Star exposé&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/LaPalette.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_82728" align="alignleft" width="320" caption="Inside the Queen West bistro (Image: Jon Sufrin)"][/caption]
Yesterday we dove into the Toronto Star’s hard-hitting investigation of the horsemeat industry in Canada. Among those implicated was Queen West bistro La Palette, where horsemeat has been a staple. Well, those days are over (for now), as this morning La Palette co-owner Shamez Amlani went on CBC’s Metro Morning to announce that as of today horsemeat has been removed from their menu.
“Certainly our decision is not based on any moral issues around serving horsemeat,” Amlani told host Matt Galloway earlier today. “What is [alleged] in the article is that the meat we’re getting is not exactly from animals that have been raised for eating, which poses a slew of problems. One is the chemicals that the animals might have been exposed to. [Another] is the ethical treatment of the animals.”
La Palette, he said, has been serving horsemeat dishes for over 10 years, but prior to the U.S. ban on slaughtering horses for consumption in 2007, Amlani knew exactly where his horses were sourced. Since then, however, a lot has changed. “Back in the day we were getting horses raised specifically for eating.…They never had a saddle on their back, and they were never exposed to [the horse painkiller] PBZ”.
After reading the Star article, Amlani apparently called up the slaughterhouse that supplies his product and decided to embark on an investigation of his own. “I wasn’t quite impressed with the results,” Amlani said. “As it turns out… they do get horses that were raised for consumption in Canada… from Alberta and Ontario. But they also admitted that they are buying horses from auctions in the United States, and according to [a plant representative] they get mixed into the same stream, which doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Still, Amlani maintained that there’s nothing wrong with eating horsemeat in principle. “We’ve defended the consumption of horsemeat as being something that is culturally acceptable in most of the world....Even within North America, the Mexicans and Québécois would say that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with consuming horsemeat—and we would agree. But if these particular horses aren’t being treated well then we want no part of it.” Still, he said that if La Palette were able to find a source that could supply the restaurant with horses raised for the purpose of consumption, the restaurant would reverse its decision.
• Horse Meat Debate [Metro Morning]){kind=link}
Shamez. Wake up. Just because a horse is raised “for the purpose of consumption” does not mean it is ethically treated in life and in slaughter. Millions of animals are raised for consumption and treated terribly. You don’t come across as compassionate with these statements; you come across ignorant. Read a book. Watch Paul McCartney’s Glass Walls. And then look at the rest of your menu – how can you claim “if these particular horses aren’t being treated well then we want no part of it”, then serve foie gras? For crying out loud.
Just listened to the recording, and have to comment that there is a reason why many people make “moral judgements” about the eating of horsemeat. That is because there is no such thing as “ethically raised horsemeat.” There is no incent…ive to produce such an animal as long as a steady supply of cheap, former pleasure mounts is available.
Dr. Lester Friedlander, DVM & former Chief USDA Inspector, told Congress in 2008, “The captive bolt [used to slaughter horses] is not a proper instrument for the slaughter of equids, these… animals regain consciousness 30 seconds after being struck, they are fully aware they are being vivisected.”
Canada was NOT raising horses specifically for consumption. We need to politely urge Mr. Amlani to educate himself on this issue. I don’t understand why he feels that the “food horses” disappeared after the cessation of slaughter within the US border. The same horses are being slaughtered now as before. No one will invest money in “food horses” as long as a cheap plentiful supply of horsemeat exists via other channels.
I don’t know why Shamez thinks the horsemeat he was supplying before 2007 came from horses raised for human consumption. Canada has been slaughtering saddle/carriage/race, etc horses for decades. And that includes some US horses as well as they were sent to whichever slaughterhouse was closer (U.S., Canada or Mexico). All he has to do is go to the St Jacobs Farmers Market in Waterloo, Ontario on a tuesday morning and see the horses that end up in the Quebec slaughterhouses. Standardbreds from the Ontario racetracks, mennonite carriage and work horses, riding horses, etc. I would guess that 100% of horses going through that auction were NOT bred for slaughter. At least one meat man attends every auction, filling his quota for Richelieu.
One of the questions raised in these articles was where do these supposedly unwanted horses go. The answer is that there are literally hundreds of rescues in both the US and Canada. The others will find homes and be absorbed into the industry or be humanely euthanized. Only a very small amount of horses go to slaughter, I believe that the percentage in the US is about 3%. People other than kill buyers attend these auctions including families looking for an inexpensive horse. Kill buyers outbid them to fill a quota when the horse could have found another home. Others attending the auction include those looking for replacement horses for those carriages, work horses and others. Again outbid on horses who could find another placement. Lastly, rescues attend to save those they can with their limited resources. If horse slaughter ended today those rescues could turn their resources to providing for those horse who don’t find other placement or who are being abused and/or neglected.
Horse Meat, Cow Meat, Chicken Flesh, its all the same in the end… I don’t know how people can justify eating one animal and being compassionate about another.
I totally agree with Troy’s comments. Why are we singling out horses over other animals? There’s potential for all living creatures to be unethically treated for our purposes…where do we draw the line? I know people that won’t eat honey because they think it enslaves the honey bee.
Mmmm… Too bad, I thoroughly enjoyed my Horse Tenderloin! Choice is choice my friends, and that was a tasty one!
Troy is right, why beef/veal, chicken or pork but not horse? I’m not vegetarian so I can’t really answer that one but I will say that I won’t eat lamb, venison or other meats just because they taste funny! There is no mention anywhere of horsemeat being used as cat/dog food…do all you nay-sayers also refuse to feed your pets horsemeat as well?
I must second Troy’s statement! If you have an issue with eating horse meat, you should be(come) a vegetarian. Else, this debate is utterly moot.
Other cultures eat various meats that we consider house pets. Does that make it wrong? We eat beef. Other cultures consider cows a sacred animal.
Everyone has the right to make a choice in lifestyle. Eating any kind of meat is a part of that choice. Everything we do, touch, eat these days (not just meats) has a shockingly negative influence on our environment if you really drill into it. Should we therefore revert back to living in caves and hunting/gathering? Unless you are going to do that, in my humble opinion all such debates are hypocritical.