LET THEM EAT HORSE!

[CarmanK]

The FDA has released the guidelines for distribution of HORSE MEAT into the human food chain. Slaughtering horses for food in the US is illegal. It seems that horses are given antibiotics and other meds that are harmful to humans. But, horse meat is a common food source in other parts of the world including:Canada, Germany, Mexico and Italy. According to a 2004 article by Dan Chase of www.backwoodshome.com "horse is ...really quite good". "It is slightly sweeter than other meats,... is leaner than beef,.. more protein...and more iron. Of course, when releasing the information, the FDA assured us that the HORSES they were regulating would be those targeted to be put down anyway: the sick and those that are neglected or unwanted. Gee, that really makes us feel good. Those horses are sick, so just feed the meat to the masses. The idea may be repulsive to most americans, but in some countries like Mexico eating Horse is common, so the export of AMERICAN processed Horse meat would mean jobs etc....and money for american farmers. So, expect the next wave of new licensing of meat processing to include DOG, and CAT. The republican governors could go to town on this one. Just turn all those stray pets over to the nearest slaughter houses. Human consumption of dog, could lead to the dismantling of all those animal shelters around the country. The state could become the collector of MEAT for processing and make a profit by selling the critters by the pound. Yummy, the future of the US meat packing industry: HORSE guaranteed not to be Secretariat OR Black Beauty. I looked on canned goods in my cabinets, and the labeling doesn't specify country of origin, it only says "distributed by...". So are we being set up?? If it is legal to slaughter horses for food in Canada and Mexico, do we really know what is in the CANNED MEAT products that are being imported?? Are we really going to feel safe, looking at the current BILKING OF american consumers by corporate america, that the food we are feeding our families is safe? I remember reading Upton Sinclair's book " The Jungle" about the Chicago stockyards which exposed the abuses of animals by meat packers and the fact that saw dust and rat particles were common ingredients in sausage. Some govt regulation is necessary for the common good, we cannot let the repuglican regressives take us backwards.

[Newest Reality]

1. I'll have a

six-pack of Brawndo and a large bag of Soylent Green, please.

[dtexdem]

2. Yeah, avoid canned meat products. I hope to see fresh horse meat in supermarkets.

Hey, I'll try it -- it's leaner than beef.

[Warpy]

3. If you eat red meat, you've likely eaten horse meat

because you know they've been sneaking it into things like burger as well as packing it into dog food.

I don't get people who think horses are any more noble, intelligent and self aware than other animals routinely slaughtered for meat. Even the lowly chicken is self aware. If you're going to eat meat, the focus should be on allowing the meat animals to live and die humanely, something that is not being done now in factory style meat farming.

Steak a cheval will soon be on the menu. Might as well get used to it.

[sunwyn]

4. They'll probably end up factory farming them like everything else in this country.

[Warpy]

5. Probably

but remember it's the system that's evil, not using horses for foodstuffs.

[struggle4progress]

6. Do you have an actual citation? I searched the Federal Register for any listings

dated 20 January 2009 or later, and containing "horse" and "slaughter" and "human consumption"

I got eleven (11) hits:

76 FR 17336 (The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect revised human food safety warnings or updated pathogen nomenclature on dosage form new animal drug product labeling that have not been codified ...)

76 FR 53050 (The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect revised human food safety warnings on dosage form new animal drug product labeling that have not been codified ...)

76 FR 50082 (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. We are proposing to establish minimum national official identification and documentation requirements for the traceability of livestock moving interstate ...)

75 FR 79459 (status list of current ruling-makings by agency)

76 FR 25612 (This proposed rule would amend the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) to reflect recommendations submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture by the National Organic Standards Board on June 20, 2008, and May 30, 2004. The recommendations addressed in this proposed rule pertain to establishing exemptions for two substances, fenbendazole and moxidectin, on the National List as parasiticides in organic livestock production ...)

74 FR 14703 (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. We are amending the regulations regarding the interstate movement of animals to add sheep and goats to the approved livestock facility agreement. Livestock facilities that handle sheep and goats in interstate commerce must meet the requirements for approval including complying with this agreement to utilize certain provisions in our scrapie regulations that reduce the movement requirements for sheep and goats moving to or from these establishments ...)

76 FR 50052 (We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, determine endangered status for the following six foreign species found on islands in French Polynesia and in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa ...)

75 FR 286 (We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to list the following six foreign species found on islands in French Polynesia and in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa ...)

74 FR 45674 (The Fish and Wildlife Service implements pertinent refuge- specific regulations and amends other existing refuge-specific regulations that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing for the 2008-2009 season.)

including two generic hits:

Unified Agenda. The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions for Monday, December 7, 2009 and Monday, December 20, 2010

So in the Federal Register I haven't found anything like what you suggest