Horse meat plant in US near approval

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Boston Globe

NEW YORK — With a horse meat controversy raging in Europe, the US Department of Agriculture is likely to approve a horse slaughtering plant in New Mexico in the next two months — making it the first time since 2007 that equine meat suitable for human consumption will be produced in the United States.

The plant, in Roswell, N.M., is owned by Valley Meat Co., which sued the USDA in the fall over the lack of inspection services for horses going to slaughter. Horse meat cannot be processed for human consumption in the United States without inspection by the USDA, so horses destined for that purpose have been shipped to places such as Mexico and Canada for slaughter.

Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department, said several companies had asked the agency to reestablish inspection of horses for slaughter.

He said the Obama administration was urging Congress to reinstate an effective ban on the production of horse meat for human consumption; that ban lapsed in 2011.

Read more: http://bostonglobe.com/business/2013/03/01/chances-horse-meat-scandal/6SvMEKVgPwwkzLnftjIVwK/story.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Will we be able to send the horses-asses of Congress there??

[valerief]

9. Boom! Ha!!! If only.

[L0oniX]

2. Hopefully soon they will also approve possum, squirrel, owl, gopher, snake, dog and cat too. n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Exoticmeat.com

Not sure about dog/cat, but you can get the rest of that stuff.

Well, maybe not gopher. I don't know anyone that eats that. Aren't gophers somewhat toxic, at least to cats? Or maybe I'm thinking of the risk of using bait on them, if a cat finds and eats them...

[L0oniX]

7. Beverly Hillbillies food ...granny cooks up a delicious gopher gravey. n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. There is a restaurant in Jacksonville with snake, kangaroo, alligator, crocodile, rabbit, & ostrich

on the menu:

http://www.clarksfishcamp.com/

[KamaAina]

19. Mule might be in your freezer first

Valley Meat sued Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, and Al Almanza, the head of the food safety inspection service, charging that the department’s failure to offer inspection of horse meat violated the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

That law directs the agriculture department to appoint inspectors to examine ‘‘all amenable species’’ before they enter a slaughtering facility.

“Amenable species’’ were animals subject to the act the day before it was enacted, including cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, horses, and mules.

Gawd, government regulations are such a pain in the ass.

[Myrina]

4. Gawd, how gross.

The older I get, the more vegetarian I become.

I need to go live in the woods & not deal with the horrific cruelty of other humans anymore.

[Tempest]

5. But apparently you had no qualms about cows, chickens or other animals

"the more vegetarian I become"

Which indicates you've eaten meat before.

[Myrina]

6. Keyword being "before".

People aren't allowed to change?

[athena]

13. How does it help to attack someone who is making an effort to avoid meat?

I used to love steak, until I saw Vegucated a few weeks ago. I was simply unaware of what goes on at factory farms, as is everyone who still eats meat. If you really care about animals, you would encourage and support someone who is making an effort to do better. Attacking them is selfish and achieves nothing beyond making you feel superior.

[Puzzledtraveller]

8. HAHA, I knew it, it was all designed this way

So you say you won't eat horse eh? Well, youv've been eating it for awhile. So, would you like to buy some horse? Sure, why not.

[Javaman]

10. Meh...

it appears as if people in both England and France had been unknowingly eating it for years, yet get disgusted only now because it's been revealed to them.

A good portion of the world eats horse, a good number of nations eat cats and dogs and about 95% knowingly eats some form of insect.

Here in the states we like our "pets" separated from our food and consider bugs "icky".

Would I eat horse? sure why not? Probably, but it would more than likely be pretty tough since the fat content is really low.

I've tried insects and some of them are actually very tasty.

Dog and cat I have not, yet I probably still would try it. And I have owned dogs my whole life.

[octothorpe]

12. We can finally make true the expression "I'm so hungry I could eat a dog"

wait...a horse.

I could probably try horse meat, but I don't think I could bring myself to eat a cat or dog though. It would be almost like eating human flesh for me. Which really makes no sense, since I have no issues with eating other cute animals.

[southernyankeebelle]

15. LOL, you might not want to say that in the Philippines. They do eat dog. I'm not sure

if most asian countries eat dog meat.

[fasttense]

20. It's not so much that they objected to eating horse.

They just wanted to know what they were eating. They were passing off the horse meat in England and France as beef.

Here in the US they will probably pass a law soon saying you can't identify meat types on the label because it would be unfair to horse meat. People have given horse meat a bad name and most people wouldn't eat it or buy it if they knew it was horse meat. So the obvious solution is to not label any meats. Isn't that the argument for GMO foods NOT being labeled?

Anyway since corporations rule us all here in the US, you can expect there is going to be a campaign to talk up horse meat, especially for the starving, oops, I mean food insecure, poor.

[jmowreader]

30. The French knowingly eat horse

The problem in France is it was labeled as beef. The British don't eat horse.

[Renew Deal]

11. Where do I find some of this tasty horse meat that is much discussed?

Because I don't know of anyone serving it. Is this plant for exporting to Europe?

[southernyankeebelle]

14. Many years ago I went to Italy to visit my relatives. My cousin told me

to taste this meat. I said it was delicious. He told me it was horse me. I thought he was joking but he wasn't. I think they eat horse meat over there. I don't see a problem with it if it is inspected and people know they are getting horse meat. I didn't notice any difference from eating a burger.

[yellowcanine]

16. If this venture fails I hope taxpayers aren't saddled with the costs.

[NBachers]

18. I knew somebody would trot out a corny joke like that

[yellowcanine]

21. Someone always does it just to stirrup things.

[NBachers]

24. This is going too far - Halter I'll Shoot!

[nc4bo]

26. The mane point is there will be a stable supply of

high quality, USDA inspected meat.

What will the neighsayers complain about next?

[NBachers]

27. Who knows- they're getting all whinny and off-track

[wordpix]

22. sounds like our illustrious gov wants to thin the wild horse herds

"The horses are taking over native wildlife's habitat" is the meme. Nothing about humans overpopulating (mining, fracking, wanting grazing lands for their domesticated herds) and taking over both native wildlife and horse habitat.

[harkonen]

23. Shaddup & Have a Boyger!

[underpants]

25. Getting close and closer to Soylent Green

I'm just sayin'

[Peter cotton]

28. I've never understood why horse meat was banned in the first place.

Why should it be any different than eating a pig or a cow?

[Scout]

29. because most horses are treated with drugs

that make them unsafe for human consumption.

and because slaughter is NOT humane. and there are laws against abuse and neglect that can be enforced against people before the horses "have" to be sold to slaughter. because legal slaughter promotes THEFT of peoples horses by scumbags who then sell them to slaughter for profit.

and because the horses that are living in the wild, on the land that belongs to the american people, are not the property of the BLM to round up and sell to slaughter for profit.

and because the solution to overbreeding of horses is to stop breeding so many, not kill more of them for profit.

and because horses are not livestock, like it or not in many cases they are pets and coworkers like dogs. we don't slaughter and eat our dogs here in the U.S. when necessary, civilized people humanely euthanize and respect their dogs and horses.