NY Times: Doping at the Racetracks Puts Europe Off U.S. Horse Meat

[marmar]

PARIS — For decades, American horses, many of them retired or damaged racehorses, have been shipped to Canada and Mexico, where it is legal to slaughter horses, and then processed and sold for consumption in Europe and beyond.

Lately, however, European food safety officials have notified Mexican and Canadian slaughterhouses of a growing concern: The meat of American racehorses may be too toxic to eat safely because the horses have been injected repeatedly with drugs.

Despite the fact that racehorses make up only a fraction of the trade in horse meat, the European officials have indicated that they may nonetheless require lifetime medication records for slaughter-bound horses from Canada and Mexico, and perhaps require them to be held on feedlots or some other holding area for six months before they are slaughtered.

In October, Stephan Giguere, the general manager of a major slaughterhouse in Quebec, said he turned away truckloads of horses coming from the United States because his clients were worried about potential drug issues. Mr. Giguere said he told his buyers to stay away from horses coming from American racetracks. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/sports/drugs-injected-at-the-racetrack-put-europe-off-us-horse-meat.html?hp

[alp227]

1. Why the fuck are they being sold for MEAT??? Just let the horses chill at a pasture or somewhere.

Money money money so corrupts the mind.

[Mel Content]

3. because people pay to eat them.

[alp227]

6. ...with a huge medical bill later on, thanks to those steroids.

[Mel Content]

7. 'those steroids' aren't limited to horse flesh.

u.s cattle and hogs do their fair share of drugs as well.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Did you know, you have to "float" a horse's teeth so they can eat?

Horse teeth grow a lot, and they have to be filed down so the horse can chew. Once a year or more often, depending on each horse's tooth growth and pattern. This is not an inexpensive procedure, on 33 or more teeth.
Plus they have other expenses like medicine, shoeing, in some areas pasture is not available all year round, so you are looking at price of hay and other feed.
Horses are expensive to keep.

I am not condoning horse slaughter, but the problem can best be looked at with a realistic view as to the cost of "retiring" a horse.

[LeftInTX]

2. Europeans eat horse meat?

Shipped across the Atlantic?

Ewww

[loli phabay]

4. no different than eating a cow or a sheep if you think about it.

[Historic NY]

5. Wilbur...........!

[flvegan]

8. This might get interesting. n/t