Eat 'Mr. Ed'? Horse meat might be worth another look
EUGENE, Ore. - First horse meat showed up in beef at a Burger King in Ireland.
Then Ikea reported horse meat was found in Swedish meatballs in Europe.
U.S. residents react with disgust, but for a lot of the world, eating horse meat isn't that unusual. The furor overseas appears more about mislabeling the meat than the meat itself.
So why is there a stigma about horse meat in the United States?
"People think of horses as more friendly than they do as a farm animal, so I think that's going to be a big problem at least in this country," said Dr. Skye Weintraub, a physician and nutritionist. "People are not going to find that appetizing."
Nicole King raises horses on a ranch outside Eugene. She loves the animals but said there should be a market for horse meat.
"I raise them and I love them, but I also see the other side of the picture," King said. "I see the practical side of the need for an outlet."
King said not all horses are sweet, social and majestic. Unruly and dangerous horses that are usually put down - and the meat goes to waste. With many people going hungry in Oregon, she wonders why that horse meat can't be put to good use as a food source.
"I think people love horses so much they don't want to consume what we're so connected to, and I understand that," King said, "but I also see and understand the need that if people are hungry, they must eat."
And while many Americans view horses as pets, the meat is popular in other countries.
"I imagine it's very lean," Weintraub said. "It's pretty easily accessible and it's not a rare animal, and for a lot of countries it's probably difficult to get adequate protein."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture hasn't inspected horse meat since 2007, so it can't be sold in the U.S.
But a New Mexico meat company has asked for that to change and said the USDA could grant them an inspection in as little as two months.
This article proves yet again that Mark Twain was an optimist when he said "If you don't read the papers, you are uninformed, and if you do read the papers you are misinformed."
Did you do any research at all? Â
Do you really think a kill buyer wants to throw an unruly horse on his truck with 35 other horses and drive a thousand miles? If you had checked, you would have known Grandin found less than 0.1% of horses arriving at slaughter had behavior problems. You would have also learned how kill buyers "calm down" the occasional unruly horse they do get stuck with. They put out one of its eyes, often with a BB gun. Want genuine USDA pictures?Â
Do you really want people to eat animals that were not raised as food animals, and that were given a medications that are forbidden in food animals? Do you know what bute is, or Regu-mate? Did you know that a pregnant woman is not supposed to handle Regu-mate even with rubber gloves because a minute amount can cause a miscarriage?Â
Are you really worried about the hungry of Oregon? Have you been to Walmart and seen all the waifs? And who is going to buy them their nice juicy horse meat steak full of drug residues?
Your story was sadly lacking on a number of facts, the truth is that many of the horses being slaughtered are NOT old or unruly, just in need of a home. With the economy down and grain prices up some owners have had to give up their horses, many loved and well trained. Unfortunately when they go to auction many are not even bid on and the brokers buy them for next to nothing, then ship them out of the country to be killed and eaten. What they also forget to mention is that many horses are treated with various drugs and medicines that make them unsafe to be used as food, especially since many of these drugs have not been tested for human consumption. And this does not even begin to address the issue of wild horses being rounded up and sold as food, mostly for the same reason that our wolves and cougars are being targeted for death. The ranchers who use public land don't want the horses competing for the food. But the fact is that the ranchers pay little or nothing to use OUR public lands to make their profits. I for one would much rather have wild horses, cougars and wolves on my wild lands. And to those who say that the horses are not native to the US, I say, neither are we, they have as much right to be here are we do, and for native species, they have more rights.
@Leslie Newcomer Well said,and a whole lot of truth to your statement,Its all about the "greed" of these ranchers and always has been.BLMÂ has made it so they pay next to nothing to graze their sheep and cattle on ,as you say,our public lands..They want everything killed and gone off those public lands..Where do we buy our beef? Canada and Europe.We harvest our own wheat to sell to foreign countries and buy back wheat from foreign countries,, same with meat products,We have enough meat and wheat and stuff in our own country to feed the masses.. yep//all about plain ass greed!
@Leslie Newcomer Why do they have "more rights" for native species? =/
@PleaseBeSmart @Leslie Newcomer They have more right to live in the wild here, than we have to kill them, because they were here before we were. We arrogantly assume that we have more rights than other species to live here.Â
@PleaseBeSmart @Leslie Newcomer that is what I said, when I said native I was referring to the cougars and wolves, if you read my post I acknowledged that the horses were not native, but also that that we weren't either. (except for the native people who don't eat horses)
@Leslie Newcomer Modern horse species were not here before we were, because we brought them here. Not that it matters much, because being "first" somewhere doesn't endow a species with more rights. And what "rights" are you speaking of? Inherent natural rights?
Way to miss the point, Dr. Weintraub. It's not that they're more friendly than, say, a cow. It's that they are far more intelligent and capable of deeper bonds. @Whitehawk hit the nail right on the head... they are intelligent companions.Â
But beyond all that, this is an utterly pointless conversation anyway because most horse meat is not fit for human consumption. At least some of the meat in the UK had phenylbutazone, and horses are often given medications which can't or shouldn't be used in animals meant for consumption. It's not that perfectly good meat is going to waste because of our culture... it's tainted meat that shouldn't be eaten anyway!
If you have ever been in a downpour where it was raining so hard you couldn't see, and you were able to get down off your horse, crawl under it's belly while it stood there and protected you. Well how could you eat an animal like that. I don't own any horses anymore, but I surely wouldn't eat one unless it was a last resort for survival. They are work animals where I came from and rarely were they used for pleasure. They are extremely intelligent animals. I wouldn't eat the family dog either.
Horses are known to be intelligent..They have been companions to humans for thousands of years.. Sort of like a overgrown dog.. They have worked for us..performed for us..and carried us proudly.Why would we eat such a intelligent companion?Might as well kill your dog or cat and eat it.Same principle.Native Americans did not eat their horses.nor did the Mongols,unless faced with starvation. The Arabs would never eat their horses.The Chinese did not eat their horses. Seems more like its a white European thing to eat horse meat.I don't believe the Spaniards ate their horses either,but I could be wrong since they are from Europe originally.
The thought of killing such a regal animal just to eat it,seems not only morally wrong,but plain disgusting.Want meat? kill the family dog and eat it!
@Whitehawk No Native Americans didn't eat their horses, but they loved mule meat.
@Whitehawk I totally agree, Whitehawk, but even beyond my love affair with horses, the health ramifications of eating them is so great. I'm always amazed when people say we should use the meat to feed the homeless. Do they deserve cancer, liver issues and other illnesses just because they can't afford to buy quality food?
Most horses are not raised for meat and are pumped full of wormers, vaccinations and other meds all of their lives. Personally, I want nothing to do with ingesting that stuff! I'll stick with the meat that I raise for my own consumption...thank you very much.Â
Interesting. Â Let's take a vote on here. Â Those in favor of eating horse, post AYE...those against, post NEIGH