A butcher in the Netherlands offers a variety of horse meat options.
Photograph by Bram Budel, Hollandse Hoogte/Redux
Published February 12, 2013
Everyone, it seems, is talking about horse meat.
A scandal has erupted in Europe because some products labeled as beef—including Burger King hamburgers and frozen lasagna—were recently found to contain various amounts of horse meat.
Some of what was sold as beef was entirely horse meat.
With everyone from vegetarians to die-hard carnivores, the subject hits a nerve. Burger King is reported to have dropped a supplier linked to the scandal, while the frozen food company Findus has pulled its lasagnas from supermarket shelves in France and England. Frozen shepherd's pie and moussaka have also been yanked.
Even if you routinely make pig, chicken, and cow a part of your diet, there's a feeling that there's just something wrong about eating horse.
But that may only be true in certain parts of the world, like the United States and the United Kingdom, where the reports of horse meat masquerading as beef first surfaced and where horses are widely viewed as gentle companions or noble competitors. Think of the Kentucky Derby, and the many movies and books dedicated to the equine kind. It's probably safe to say that most Americans are uncomfortable with the thought of sitting down to a plate of Black Beauty or Seabiscuit. (Room for wild horses shrinks in the American West, from National Geographic.)
In plenty of other places, though, horse is regularly consumed—without any stigma attached.
Horse Meat Consumers
On the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, for example, horse is a popular local ingredient, as is its relative, the donkey. (What's the secret to Sardinian longevity?)
Among Europeans, the Sardinians aren't alone in their taste for the animal. The meat is available at some butcher shops in the Netherlands. It's eaten in France, too. And though it may not be mainstream or headlining big-ticket dining establishments, there are websites like this one, where you can buy various cuts of chevaline for grilling, roasting, and braising.
The world's biggest consumer of horse meat is China, according to estimates made by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The Chinese dry it for sausages. The meat is especially popular in the southern region of Guangxi, where it's served as part of a dish made with rice noodles.
Number two, estimates the FAO, is Kazakhstan, where horse is an integral part of the diet and used to make various sausages and a type of dumpling called manti.
Russia, Mexico, Mongolia, Argentina, and Japan are also top consumers of horse meat.
The Meat or the Deceipt?
So what does it taste like? Food writer Waverley Root once described it as having a "lingering sweetness, which is not disagreeable but is disconcerting in meat."
The blog Eat Horse, dedicated to "promoting the human consumption of horse meat," touts the meat's healthy qualities: it's low fat, low cholesterol, and high in iron.
Los Angeles-born food historian Andrew F. Smith takes a nonjudgmental stance, perhaps surprising for an American.
"What's wrong with eating horse meat?" he asks, noting that the real problem in the European fallout is that customers were deceived.
As for whether or not horse should be consumed, he says, "We've decided certain animals are edible" and have "made certain definitions while other countries have not."
What's your definition of an edible animal? Do you think it's acceptable to eat horse? Does cultural background make a difference?
I'm colombian and I eat guinea-pig. Although not mainstream in colombia this is eaten in some regions. I'm living in Australia right now and noone here would accept the fact that you eat a PET. I think there will always need to be respect for choices (even though I eat everythink that comes my way). Horse meat - I wonder how many times i've eaten without knowing - this is wrong.
As a few commentors have stated horses in this country are usually filled with drugs not for human consumption. That said there are many thousands sent to Canada and Mexico. In Mexico the horses are stabbed repeatedly until their spine is severed and while they are still alive and conscious are repeatedly stabbed all around their bodies because people who eat horses in Mexico believe this torture makes the meat sweet. In many abattoirs live horses are hung by their hind leg and slowly killed. Something to think about when discussing the "morality" of horse consumption.
The reason why americans want to reinstitute horse slaughter has nothing to do with the dietary goodness of horse meat. Otherwise we wouldn't let our dairy farmers feed cattle bubble gum and other non food items to the animals; we wouldn't let farmers feed herbavoire livestock other animals for the extra 'protein' to increase profits even though the practice is linked to the spread of diseases; we wouldn't let industrial areas pollute our waters with our sea food and fish that our doctors press us to consume for the healthy omegas.
The real reason is we don't want to be held financial responsible for overbreeding animals with poor conformation and health. We allow breeders to over populate the markets with unwanted animals just to make a dollar. Half the time, these people hide medical issues in order to pass off the animals for higher prices, and if you have tried buying a horse in the past five years or even owned a horse, you would know what I am talking about. These unregulated animals end up in the food chain and on someone's plate ready to cause a whole host of complications (because they are pumped so full of drugs that we won't even let our dogs eat)
People arguing for the consumption of horses based on their edibility really need to do more homework on the horse industry. We banned the use of horse meat in dog food due to the toxicity of it, so logic would go: if its bad for my dog, its probably not good for me; my dog is fed a raw diet. Just because history said horses were eaten, doesn't mean current trends can't change. I mean we used to let some people own and trade other people just a couple of hundred years ago. I would love to have someone cook, clean, do my yard work, dig up my garden, etc, (for free), but you don't see me and other people bullying others to reinstitute slavery.
Well, you might add here that although some like horsemeat and others don't - most people will not eat horsemeat. One of the reasons, no doubt, for the criminal mislabeling of beef when it was actually horse. The products were pulle from the shelves - and will not be sold. Horse slaughter is more than the killing of an animal for consumption. what more could it be you may well ask. We who know horses understand it is actually a betrayal of a trust from an animal to humans. The horse - our spiritual partner in strength and valor relegated to a slave to be butchered and consumed. If you support the slaughtering of horses,. please do yourself a favor and educate yourself as to teh real journey of this animal to its demise. Read a bit of the last slaughterhouses in america - Kaufman, texas and the Illinois plant. Then search about for the controversy last year ovedr the brutality of certain businessmen towards a herd of wild Romanian horses - the very same horses whose meat may be in the lasagne just pulled from stores. Do your research, this is not a new topic. Don't triviliaze the miserable conditions and torment of these sentient creatures. It is mot a simple yes or no debate. This problem reaches deep into our values as humans and how we see the creatures around us. Be kind. Demand a ban on the commercial slaughter of horses. Then there is the issue of American horses who are not bred for food and are administered drugs which metabolize into deadly components capable of bringing on aplastic anemia - meat from American horses have been delivered to Europe, Asia and Russia despite years of uproar! This is not a simple does it taste good subject - rise above the banal and engage in real conversations. Ban the commercial slaughter of horses.
It's cheaper because it isn't heavily regulated or tested upon for food safety. You get what you pay for.
@Juraj Matej - the information in the US is that horsemeat is a delicacy and commends highprices per pound. But perhaps it is a cheap cut of meat. Usually, the meat will be heavy in adrenaline and other drugs which are used to comfort it and treat wounds it has suffered under the ownership of those who loved it. Don't eat the meat, it is dangerous.
In the 70's beef prices briefly skyrocketed in the US and local butchers in many cities advertised horse meat. I recall there being a mild "ick" factor among a few people. I had no such problem, tried it and found it lean but (as a consequence) tough. Also, there was not much flavor. If it came down to pink slime additives vs. horse meat I would chose the latter in a heartbeat. We have long eaten Buffalo meat in the US and they are farmed for meat and not wild. Very flavorful but you need a high grade or it can be tough.
Honestly, as a Taiwanese, I don't eat horse at all, because I have eaten a various kind of meat like pig, chicken fish, mutton, not to mention, beef. In my opinion, the definition of an edible animal is every animal which is not poisonous, for the reason that people rufuse to eat an animal comes from affectional cause; hence, a barbarian views every living as his or her food. Simply put, that it's acceptable to eat horse and that cultural background make a difference. After all, in emergency circumstances, people eat human beings.
1 Like
@Miranda Liuit is a known fact that meat is toxic for humans, because humans are not carnivourous(and are nor necrophagous - cause this is what is happening, people are eating mostly old meat). meat consumption produce atheroslerosis, which causes coronary heart disease and strokes, the main cause of death in civilised countries. colon cancer is another consequence of animal based food.
1 Like
is a scam of cosmical proportions. what does it matters if is horse or cow? after plowing, carried(or being ridden), giving milk the hole life, both are rewarded with the slaughterhouse. and people buys, saying is the course of nature. or is a matter of culture.
most of the western europe horse meat comes from the eastern farmers: "The company[slaughterhouse] buys horses from the farmers when the animals cannot be used at work or when families can no longer afford to care." "In a stall nearby, relaxing music is heard." http://www.mediafax.ro/externe/scandalul-carnii-de-cal-reportaje-in-presa-straina-la-abatoarele-din-romania-10559986
animals ensured human survival for thousant of years. it would be the case that now, when agriculture, science and technology released them from this dependence, to show some respect.
First of all, you clearly have no credentials to back up your statements regarding the metabolic effects of meat consumption, as most of what you said is a misconstrued jumble of partial facts.
If you follow this link below you can clearly see that the 'Eastern' (or in your case South Central Eastern) European countries do no export the majority of horse meat found in Western Europe, as you have previously stated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/interactive/2013/feb/15/europe-trade-horsemeat-map-interactive
the cultural background is irrelevant. culture is changing, is evolution. there is still a lot of culturally backed violence, not only toward animals(whaling, hunting, poaching, killing the lamb for Easter), but also toward humans, especially women(education interdiction, forced circumcisions, labia sewing).
In many areas of Quebec, horse meat is NOT considered taboo. It is widely available and affordable in the grocery stores, delis and butchers, alongside all of the other locally-raised meat. It is sometimes considered an alternative to beef. Our recent ancestors did not often have the luxury of being picky about protein sources during the harsh winter months.
During the mid 40's (the later years of WWII), horsemeat was available in the US due to the scarcity of beef. Although, even though it's more than a half century, I do remember my mother cooking it and telling us what it is. As far as I can remeber, it's much like bison is today (rich and lean).
While I understand different countries and cultures view horses and horse slaughter for human consumption in different ways. I am totally opposed to horse slaughter and am fighting to END the slaughter of American horses which are NOT raised as a "food animal" and are given medications that should never enter th human food chain. In the USA Horses are NOT FOOD......we do NOT eat our friends and companions. While some countries eat dogs and cats, here in the USA, like horses, dogs & cats are friends and companions and should NOT be betrayed. This "horse meat scandal" as you call it is more than an issue of food taboo. The safety of your food chain has been compromised and if you don't care about horses you should care about the health issues that may arise from this "scandal".
Please read my open letter titled. Selling The American Soul By The Pound. Thank you. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=301388889895117&id=158998754134132
2 Like
@Michelle StoraceWho, exactly, decides which species are too cute or culturally valuable for consumption and which are just fine for mass slaughter? Americans are no better than anyone else because they choose to kill and eat cows, chickens, rabbits, etc. over horses. That claim in itself is barbaric...
1 Like
Humans decided a long time ago that they are at the TOP of the FOOD CHAIN and therefore have the RIGHT to eat whatever species they consider "non-human" on the planet. This issue is about the sheer DANGER of people not knowing that horsemeat from the US was not raised specifically for consumption. I have read that years ago there were TV ads in other countries showing pastures of beautiful horses touted as being raised like cattle and specifically for consumption (meaning no meds, and cared for before being "processed and shipped to European countries that LIKED the meat!). The fact that these horses are drugged, and that medication STAYS in the meat forever is a greater issue! Keep in mind, we have no problem eating beef - and in India cows are considered SACRED! But I don't see India dissing the United States because we eat and animal THEY consider Sacred. The bottom line is the horse meat being sent to other countries is POISONOUS to humans and other animals alike! As an active political Horse Advocate the last 4-5 years, I'm against horse slaughter because I love the animal and have several! But the main focus at the moment is the contaminated meat that people are being told is safe to eat (no matter what animal it comes from!). And horses are not "raised" as food animals - period!
1 Like
Dutchmen living in LA here: the subject of horsemeat came up at work months ago. I honestly had not the slightest idea this was considered taboo at all. Clearly, I grew up in the French-Dutch North-West European zone, outside the AngloSaxon bubble. Horse-meat is considered a kind of delicacy. A better quality, les fat meat from carefully raised animals. Unlike intensively farmed cow cattle. Horse to beef compares a bit like turkey to chicken.
3 Like
We don't raise horses in this country for food as such they are not raised under food safety guidelines as our meat animals are. Therefore we give our horses medications which are banned from use in ANY animal intended for human consumption. Banned because they pose dire risks to the human consumers... banned because they cause diseases like Aplastic Anemia, birth defects, etc.
1 Like
What I think, is that the real question of the scandal is how those people ate horse meat instead of what they choosed to eat. Everyone has the right to choose what to eat and what not. Maybe if you offer cow meat in India saying that's any other kind of food, population will not like it so much. The culture makes a lot of difference, but everybody has the right to choose, and we have a lot of different opinions. For me, eating horse meat, something that I (probably) never had eaten, is strange and possibly, damaging.
5 Like
The slaughter process, while terrible for cattle, is worse for horses. Cows are ruminants, stand still and lower heads when stressed, allowing usually a single captive-bolt shot to the head to render it insensible to pain during slaughter. Horse is flight animal, throws its head around making it harder to render insensible to pain on one shot (which is legal definition of a humane stun), is often shot repeatedly in the head (its brain is also further back than cattle's) and often regains consciousness or is conscious while slaughtered. Both of these things (multiple shots and being conscious) are violations of the humane slaughter act. That is a good reason to be "repelled" by horse meat.
Horse meat is not healthy. Horses are walking pharmacies; the most highly trained and drugged animals on the planet. Racehorses, breeding stock, riding horses are where slaughter horses come from. They're full of drugs banned in food animals. Many are known carcinogens. Think Lance Armstrong: a lot of doping. Horses are not organically raised—a large surplus market makes this unnecessary.
Cattle's meds are tightly controlled from pasture to plate. Consider, also, that cattle blood gets sold to fertilizer companies but horse blood is discarded: fertilizer companies started rejecting it in the mid-eighties because it has too many toxic drugs in it. Consider also that the drugs in horse blood disabled the bacteria in wastewater systems at slaughter plants in IL and TX (closed in 2007).
I don't care how culturally superior everyone thinks the French, Italians and other Europeans are in their culinary tastes. When it comes to horse meat and food safety, the fertilizer companies know better.
3 Like
It is a problem.
We are humans, we have something in our heads, commonly called brains. Do we have to eat horse meat? No. That is why our ancestors created stock raising. Not everythin what has "legs", has to be eaten because it has... "legs". Why?? Look at the begiining of my post. Saludos.
1 Like
Cows, goats, horses, sheep, pigs.... why should horses be any more disgusting than the others? Such knee-jerk reactions are always worthy of close inspection.
3 Like
@Melany Vorass Why? because we don't raise our horses for food. horses are considered to be companion animals and we don't eat our companions.
1 Like
Living in Switzerland, horse meat is considered as one of the best meat -a "Sunday meat". I don't personnaly eat horse meat because I ride horses. But everybody make good laughs out of me when it comes to the subject, just because I'm sensitive about it. I have no problems with people eating horse meat, horses are like cows, or pigs, they can be in the food-chain-better that than just be burned for nothing (if the horse died healthy of course)
But what is for me a real
problem, is the way horses are brough up only for meat consumption: I've read
an article once (in Cheval Magazine), where the production is major where? In
CANADA, USA and MEXICO in absolute horrible conditions. Because in the US it
isn't allowed to slaughter horses, they have to pass the boarder to Mexico, in
tragical conditions ! (Well done the US !) not so better in Canada ect. and
then, this meat have to travel that far (America to Europe).
I think it is just a shame the way it works. I don't mind local horse meat, but
people should be considering twice before buying such meat, and knowing where
it comes from..
Anyway, the USA can always easely critisised or be absolutely shocked by what,
we, European eat or do; but they should analyse a bit before what's going on on
their part of land. Horse meat production is part of your business
too...
4 Like
@Tatiana O. Tatiana & ALL, We horse advocates in the U.S. continue to work very hard to stop the brutal transport (pipeline) of our domestic horses, & "protected by law," wild horses across the Mexican & Canadian borders & ban horse slaughter. However, although the U.S. is a democratic nation, there are self-serving, $$$, i.e. corrupt legislators who manage to block and/or pass bills to try to reinstate horse slaughter in the U.S. & enable transport across borders. That said, no matter where horse slaughter takes place, it is inhumane & always will be. There will never be a slaughterhouse that knocks horses insensible to "bleed-out" & die BEFORE the butchering. Even famed Temple Grandin could NOT design one for horses! Failed! The captive bolt to the head does not work. Even after being heinously penetrated up to 11 times! Horses remain semi to conscious, hung by one hoof, thrashing when the butchering takes place. Yes, horses are now deemed "companion animals, although still on the books as "livestock." "Livestock," again for $$$, GREED. Americans do NOT eat horses. Horses are honored for dedication to man. They were instrumental in settling America & remain a working horse in many areas: war horses, therapy horses, horse racing, show horses, carriage horses, trail horses, pack horses, in the field, logging... And now it is known how toxic horse meat is to human health. Deadly. The chemicals in the horse (Bute, etc.) NEVER dissipate from the body. With all the above, there is valid reason why 80+% of taxpaying Americans do NOT want horses slaughtered. We in America, will keep on to FREE our horses from transport & slaughter & keep our wild horses FREE on the range. Thank you.
2 Like
@Tatiana O. We do not raise horses in the US for horse meat. They are not raised under food safety guidelines and as such are given medications which are banned from use in ANY animal intended for human consumption. We are trying now to get a ban on our horses being transferred for slaughter and for a complete ban on slaughter in our country as well. Though currently horses cannot be slaughtered in the US, that could change.
You should warn your horse eating friends not to trust any meat which is in the supermarkets, etc... 80% of the horses slaughtered in Canada and shipped to the EU comes from US horses which were not raised under food safety guidelines. Bute dinner anyone???
Isn't there an issue with Tetanus?
I believe that in Australia at least the Tetanus serum is derived from horses.
In that event, eating horse meat can make the derived serum ineffective.
Definitely not on my menu, it may actually be illegal for human consumption in Oz!
@Graeme S. I don't think it's illegal here. In fact, I believe there are farms up north that raise horse for meat, which is sold in restaurants. Mostly in QLD, from memory.
As long as it meets our safety guidelines (which are much stricter than the US'), I think it's legal. It's just not publicised.
I live in QLD and have not yet seen horse on the menu in any resturant.
Having trained racehorses in the past I know the sort of chemicals that are pumped into horses which would put concern in eating any horse meat. I have also cooked horsemeat for greyhounds and it has a very strong sickly smell that would put anyone off there food.
2 Like
The stigma of eating horse meat is in northern europe /Scandinavia conected to christianity. In prechristian times horses were a common sacrifice to the gods, after the sacrifice the horse meat was eaten. Ergo eating horse meat was connected with nonchristian sacrifice and was banned. This is one of the reasons why it´s such a scandal.
2 Like
Why are we so judgemental in the United States? There is nothing wrong with eating Horse Meat, Dog Meat, Dolphin or any other animal for that matter. I have traveled and I have tried various meats including rat and scorpion- I have not tried horse or dog but if I'm in a country that serves it, I will try it. Stop judging what other cultures do. Some cultures find it gross to eat what we do.
1 Like
I don't think people have an issue with horse meat as much as they have an issue with horse meat being served as beef...Especially since there are growth hormones (normally restricted from the food chain) used on horses that can cause significant health problems in humans.
3 Like
@Frank B There are a lot more than growth hormones, the most commonly used drug in horses is BUTE, which is banned from use in ANY animal intended for human consumption. It causes Aplastic Anemia, birth defects as well as several other diseases. These drugs are banned because there are no withdrawal times for these medications in the muscles and organs of the animals.
A good majority of the horse meat distributed in the EU is imported from Canada and Mexico, who's main sources of horses is from the US. We don't raise our horses for food in the US. So if you choose to eat horse meat... bon apetite with your bute laden dinner.
And Andrew, in civilized countries we don't eat our companions... How we treat our animals is a testament to the moral compass of a society. Those countries that eat dog etc, do not treat the animals well at all.
A good majority of the horse meat distributed in the EU is imported from Canada and Mexico, who's main sources of horses is from the US....
Really? Please tell me where you came up with those figures, because I don't think they are true. Trust me, the EU over-regulates everything, and I doubt that Eurostat makes numbers up.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/interactive/2013/feb/15/europe-trade-horsemeat-map-interactive
As to the moral high-grounders around here (especially those coming from the US), please go convince a vegetarian. Horse meat (as in food, not ex-racing horses smuggled across the border, butchered, and sold illegaly for $$$) is no different than chicken or beef, morally.
What is important is how the animals are treated during their lifetime, and that they are killed "humanely". That is what your efforts should be concerned with.
4 Like
For me the only thing drawing a line between whether or not I want to eat it, is whether the animal was teated fairly and humainly. I refuse to eat an animal knowing that it's life was abusfull and sad, whether it be pig, cow, horse or dog. I think as long as an animal was farmed humainly, and was given a good life then I don't feel bad about eating it. It was wrong however, for them to mask the product under a false tital.
Besides, who's to say a horse is better then a cow or a pig?
2 Like
@Brittany Welsh Horses are considered companion animals, but then you seem to sound as if you would eat dogs too... so I guess it doesn't matter to you where the meat comes from.
At some point we have to draw the line....
Winners of the 56th World Press Photo contest capture some of the most emotional, devastating, and beautiful images of 2012.
Selected from hundreds of submissions.
Eelpouts, rattails, and cusk eels were among the odd haul of species discovered during a recent expedition to the Kermadec Trench.
Is this pebble toad waving to photographer Joe Riis?
See our earliest pictures of animals, color, and more.
