by Greg Morabito as it appears in NY.EATER.com
Edgy Eatery Reviewer Disses Equine Advocates and Fans
“I am certain that all of you advocates have heard of a new NY eatery that plans on adding horse to it’s menu in an effort to be “different” and/or “cool” but now an uninformed NY city reporter takes a stab at those who attempt to bring to light the danger of consuming horsemeat and the social stigma that it inspires…please see below and be sure to swing by and comment as his insults are aimed directly at YOU!” ~ R.T.
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Hugue Dufour and Sara Obraitis (Photo: Chris Abraham)
Before opening M. Wells Dinette inside MOMA PS 1, chef Hugue Dufour told the Robs that he would serve fresh ground horse tartare as one of the dishes. By all accounts, he hasn’t actually started offering this dish yet (the restaurant is just five days old). But now, two animal rights activists have started separate campaigns on Change.org against the restaurant, both of which seek to prevent the sale of horse meat there. So far, over 1,400 people have signed the petitions.
From one of the campaigns:
Chef Hugue Dufur has already failed as a chef when his so talked about restaurant in Queens closed down after being open just for 14 months…Now, he has the idea of feeding the American people horse meat that is usually sold in the USA for zoo wild animals. A museum should not profit out of the pain and torture horses endure. This project is an insult to the New York people of being ignorant to eat horse meat and it should be consider as disrespectful to the state.
Both of these campaigns suggest that it’s unsafe to eat horse meat because of the drugs that are administered to horses, and of course, it’s sad when those animals are killed. But horse meat is considered a delicacy in some countries, and it’s perfectly legal to serve it in New York State — Dufour himself sold horse bologna at the Great GoogaMooga fest earlier this year, and the foodies loved it.
Here’s what’s probably going to happen: Dufour will serve the horse tartare, animal rights activists will continue to protest, and every critic in this city will file a review of the dish. Then the controversy will die down after a few weeks, and everyone can go back to wondering when the M. Wells team will open that crazy boat factory/steakhouse.
· MoMA PS1 & M. Wells Dinette: Ban Horse Meat [Change.org]
· MoMA PS1: Do Not to Allow M Wells Serve Horse Meat [Change.org]
· All Coverage of M. Wells Dinette [~ENY~]
Click (HERE) to visit Eater and to COMMENT!
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
The Humane Society of the United States Says Horsemeat Should Not Be on the Menu at MoMA
NEW YORK (Oct. 2, 2012)—The Humane Society of the United States is urging the Museum of Modern Art to prevent the M. Wells Dinette, located in MoMA’s PS1 gallery, from serving horsemeat. In a letter to the gallery director, The HSUS cites concerns that the horse slaughter industry is cruel and inhumane, and horsemeat presents potential food-safety risks for consumers.
“New Yorkers don’t eat companion animals like horses, so MoMA PS1 should uphold its reputation as a cultural leader by refusing to allow the inhumane and potentially health-hazardous practice of serving horsemeat at its gallery,” said Brian Shapiro, New York state director for The HSUS.
The HSUS is not aware of the source of the product to be served at the restaurant, but objects to killing these animals because the process of transport and slaughter is inherently inhumane. HSUS investigators have repeatedly documented the animal cruelty associated with slaughtering horses, including “killer” auctions and the method of transporting horses across the country and into Canada and Mexico in overcrowded trailers for days at a time in extreme temperatures. The slaughter process itself is difficult, as horses are flight animals, and many horses suffer during the misguided and often repeated attempts to render them unconscious. The HSUS’ undercover footage of horse slaughter shows the gruesome reality of the industry.
Americans do not raise horses for food, but rather as companions and for use in recreation and labor. Horses are given a wide variety of drugs, both legal and illegal, over the course of their lifetimes that can make their meat dangerous to humans.
Horse slaughter plants do not currently operate on U.S. soil; however, more than 100,000 American horses are trucked every year to Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered – with most of their flesh exported to Europe and Japan where horsemeat is considered a delicacy. There is no adequate safeguard in place to ensure that horsemeat is safe for human consumption, regardless of where the animal is slaughtered. There is no system for recording medications given to these horses over the course of their lives and therefore no reliable method of removing horses from the food chain who have been given substances prohibited for use in food animals.
In fact, dealers in the horse slaughter trade known as “killer buyers” have been found to have illegally falsified export documents, claiming that horses they sold to slaughter were free of prohibited drugs, for which they later tested positive. Due to the risks presented to human health, The HSUS has petitioned both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to label horsemeat as “condemned,” adulterated, and unqualified for use as human food. A January 2012 poll demonstrates that 80 percent of Americans oppose horse slaughter. Currently, the U.S. Congress is considering the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, S. 1176/H.R. 2966, which would ban the slaughter of horses (including export of live horses for slaughter in other countries). The bill currently has 165 cosponsors in the U.S. House and 26 in the U.S. Senate.
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US friends, please be sure to share this with NY health officials and MoMA, it is further proof that drugs that are banned in animals destined for slaughter are definitely found in horsemeat originating in Canada. The drugs in this case were not found by Canada’s food inspection agency, the CFIA; this notice was sent from Belgium in June 2012 showing they discovered the drugs clenbuterol and phenylbutazone in horsemeat that originated in Canada.
It should be noted, the CFIA does not test every horse carcass, as with other animals, they only do random testing. In fact, The CFIA has previously written to the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition and admitted that in a 5 year period spanning 2005 to 2010, only 698 horses have been tested. That equates to 0.18% of horse carcasses tested as 385,339 horses had been slaughtered in that time period.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/portal/index.cfm?event=notificationDetail&NOTIF_REFERENCE=2012.1078
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On that Note: I think the NYS health department should also prohibit this establishment from serving it to their customer’s as a clear health hazard. You wouldn’t serve peanut butter with E.coli or Salmonella in it would you. Sorry for spelling but the point still stands. Oh get the patient history’s of those in france who died from eating raw horse meat, one was a pregnant woman who was admitted to hospital for complications on her pregnancy. The baby didn’t make it and later the mother died because of a parasite that is normally present in horses migrated to her brain and caused her death, this same parasite also caused the death of her unborn baby. CDC.gov has that resource.
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As always the bash is “Animal Rights Activists..instead of using the correct label of “Animal Advocates”…..The article is trash, the comments made by the pro eaters and slaughters are ignorant and bashing no surprise there, and the advocates comments are intelligent and spot on. The good thing is that the article includes the links to the petitions on change.org that are needing more signatures. Please sign if you haven’t done so already. Thanks
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And again the f…ing foreign market rules over the law in the US.. Why not just give up our citizenship, stop supporting this government and ignore the law and do as we damned well please.. The law doesn’t work for us.. It destroys us and lets these foreign crooks have their way.. Oh and by the way I curse anybody who supports horse slaughter and especially those who eat the flesh of these animals..may they die of some of the horrible diseases that comes from these animals!!!
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Disgusting
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Jo-Claire Corcoran @moondance27
RT https://www.change.org/petitions/moma-ps1-and-m-wells-dinnette-prevent-the-restaurant-from-adding-adulterated-horse-meat-to-their-menu … #petition to stop #horsemeat at #MoMA PS1 @ M Wells
Please sign and share this petition
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He should go back where he came from originally and open his restaurant where people eat horses. Americans love horses and they will certainly not eat them here in the USA!
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He looks like the devil, to me!!! Go back to where you came from! Just because you Can do something, doesn’t mean that you Should! We have moral issues here!
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We will host and initiate a state-wide campaign on OCTOBER 27, 2012 Saturday, at Ground Zero, Museum of Modern Art, where will call for a BOYCOTT of the museum and lobby for state-wide ban on horse slaughter, horse transport for slaughter and consumption. Please be at our PROTEST AND DEMONSTRATION at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City from 2-6pm. Kay Riviello, Co-Founder, New York Animal Rights Alliance America.
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Comment to M. Wells Restaurant to serve Horse Tartare in NY, USA: “Nothing hip, funny, or cute about serving tortured to death, full of poison “Horse Tartare”.
As our wild horses and burros are dying..fighting to live..how dare you dishonor their sacred value and precious lives.
How do you know you are not serving up one of our sacred wild horses who was illegally sold to Canada/Mexico?
Horses represent freedom and all that is sacred here in America, to kill and torture our wild and domestic horses, is to kill and torture ourselves…we are all connected here.
What is “hip”… is rising up for wild horses and burros to live in peace and freedom and what is “hip” and is “cool” is to boycott all people and businesses who satiate their greed through causing immediate and direct purposeful painful and torturous harm to what is innocent.
Honor our wild horses and domestic horses as sacred, they are the thunder, the wind.., passion, freedom and rhythm keepers of Mother Earth’s heart beat, they are the spirit of all that is good here.
Americans don’t eat horses and we do not eat our dogs, or cats either.” Wild Horse Protection Act FB
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Very, Very sick person. Its apparent he has no feelings or compasion…
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An update from http://ny.eater.com:
A quick update on Horse Tartare Gate 2012: Steve Cuozzo stopped by chef Hugue Dufour’s M. Wells Dinette earlier this week and, like other diners before him, found that the highly controversial horse tartare dish was not on the menu. Cuozzo asked when the dish would land on the menu, and a server replied, “Probably not any time soon.” Apparently, PETA protestors had visited the restaurant prior to his visit. Cuozzo also had a maddening experience there, noting that there was one server catering to a dining room full of people, and that his plate of escargots arrived 30 effing minutes after he ordered it. Cuozzo writes that when the waiter came by to check on him, he was “hungry enough to take a chomp out of the tattoos — nude women, flaming beasts — on his arms.”
· A Horse, a Horse, my Kingdom for a Horse [NYP]
· All Coverage of Horse Tartare Gate 2012 [~ENY~]
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If the server is required to tell folks of dishes that contain nuts, a deathly health risk to a large population, don’t you think they should have to warn you that the dish may contain cancer causing agents i.e. Ivermectin?
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