+353 (1) 685 6929 It may come to the point that every time you bite into a burger you will be asking yourself – could this be a horsemeat burger? And now thanks to the US government actually approving horse slaughterhouses to produce meat for human consumption, this may become a reality.
The meat company in Roswell New Mexico is being give the ‘green light’ by the USDA, to go ahead and process horse meat – moreover they will also be provided with inspectors who will visit at said intervals just ensuring that they are slaughtering horses and processing their meat in a rightful manner. This is supposedly happening in mid-July – and that’s not all of it – other horse meat plants are expected to be given the same approval by the USDA in Iowa and Missouri.
Horsemeat cannot legally be sold for human consumption in the USA, but can be used for pet food – however it can be sold in Mexico for human consumption and there is the worry that it may be relabelled and shipped back to the USA as inexpensive meat filler. Just recently there was the Horse Meat Scandal in Europe exposed by DNA tests on the meat, where meatballs sold in grocery stores were found to be made with horse meat. Although many have called this outrageous and cruel it has been stated that the attorney for Valley Meat Company has waited for well over a year to get the permit finally granted by the USDA.
Slaughterhouses such as these were banned during the Bush period – but since President Obama the ban expired in 2011 thus allowing the operations to restart again. Quite a feeble excuse for operating these plants is that they will create jobs – the plant may need approximately 40 people…
Apparently the USDA stated that it was required by law to issue this grant of inspection as Valley Meat had met all federal requirements. What’s so scary about all this is finding out where the horse meat comes from – well horse owners may decide to have their horses killed for a number of reasons, like: illness, injury or just simply for not being able to afford to keep them cared for and fed properly – so instead of giving your horse the dignified death it so well deserves, many of the owners call the slaughterhouse so they can take the horse away and subject it to a death in a meat packing plant. So if you happen to be a horse owner, then do not let your horse get slaughtered for food, just be very wary about the step you take if you need to sell or give away your horse – knowing what could happen just doesn’t bear thinking about…
A feeble excuse is that leaving them to starve and suffer is far more inhumane than giving them a quick and painless death…quick and painless???