Front Range Equine Rescue and The Humane Society of the United States filed a legal petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent former companion, working, competition and wild horses from being used as human food.
Humane groups against slaughter in US
Using horses for human consumption creates an unacceptable and illegal public health threat under the Federal Meat Inspection Act.
The petition alleges that the drugs given to these horses throughout their lives are banned for animals used for food under federal law and/or are potentially dangerous to humans.
Using these horses for human consumption creates an unacceptable and illegal public health threat under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. The groups sent a similar petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month.
In addition, through its own investigation, Front Range Equine Rescue (FRER) has discovered that Valley Meats Company in Roswell,NM, has applied for inspection of horses to be “custom slaughtered” and “processed” for human consumption.
According to the facts uncovered, the facility has been involved in extended discussions with the Denver office of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The FSIS inspects animals and meat in American slaughterhouses under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Current USDA rules do not require sufficient testing or documentation to ensure that former companion and other non-livestock horses slaughtered for human food do not contain or have not been administered prohibited substances.
The “killer-buyers” who acquire these horses typically have no concern or knowledge about the horses’ prior history before shipping them off to inhumane deaths in slaughter facilities. Unlike cows, pigs, chickens and other animals raised for food, horses are swept up by a predatory industry from a variety of sources-former race horses, carriage horses, family ponies and others who are routinely given drugs and medications not fit for human consumption.