Amid the unfolding horse-meat scandal throughout Europe, a New Mexico slaughterhouse is moving closer to becoming the first in the United States since 2007 to be allowed to process horses for human consumption.
Controvery over horse slaughter plant
A representative of the US Agriculture Department has recommended that an application for a horse slaughter plant in New Mexico be processed and a grant of federal inspection be issued.
© 2013 by Carien Schippers
According to reports, Scott C. Safian, a director at the Agriculture Department has conveyed the following message to Ricardo De Los Sants, owner of the Valley Meat Company who is seeking approval for his processing plant in Roswell, New Mexico:
âI am recommending to the Dallas district manager that your application be processed, and a grant of federal inspection be issued, provided you meet all other requirements for inspection.â
âGrants will not be issued until an establishment is able to produce a safe product in accordance with the Federal Meat Inspection Act,â said an Agriculture Department spokeswoman, Catherine Cochran.
On Monday, an advocacy group for horses sent a letter to the U.S.D.A., asking it not to grant permission for Mr. De Los Santos to operate the facility because he had failed to disclose two felonies on his original application form, as well as on a second, subsequent form.
âIs this really a guy we want to be operating a regulated business, one in which the U.S.D.A. will rely on his representations?â said Bruce A. Wagman, a lawyer representing Front Range Equine Rescue, the advocacy group.
A. Blair Dunn, the lawyer representing Mr. De Los Santos, said Front Range had erroneously described a case of criminal trespassing as a felony. He said the issue was âanother desperate attempt to degrade my clientsâ by Front Range and the Humane Society of the United States.
âEverything regarding that information has been vettedâ through the departmentâs food safety and inspection service âand has been certified by letter by U.S.D.A. to offer no impediment,â Mr. Dunn wrote in an e-mail.
The issue of horse slaughtering has become contentious in light of a labeling scandal in Europe, where ground beef in processed foods made and sold by companies ranging from Nestlé to Ikea was found to contain horse meat.
On Monday, Robert Redford, who starred in âThe Electric Horsemanâ and âThe Horse Whisperer,â lent his voice to the debate in a letter to Equine Advocates, a horse welfare group, explaining his opposition to slaughter. âWe need to oppose this unspeakable practice with all our might,â Mr. Redford wrote. âIt has no place in our culture.â
Horses have not been slaughtered in the United States since 2007, after Congress forbade the use of federal money for inspection of horse meat. That prohibition fell out of legislation in 2011, and Mr. De Los Santos first applied for inspection in December of that year.