Commentary and information supplied by Vicki Tobin ~ VP of Equine Welfare Alliance
Tainted Horse Meat found in UK Walmart
Allow me to vent for a moment…. Have we (collective we) not been saying that horse slaughter is going to give the entire meat industry a black eye? It has become a reality with this scandal and still not a peep out of the meat industry, USDA or Congress. And in total denial, you have OK and NM still trying to open plants. What is wrong with these people?
The words horse slaughter shouldn’t be crossing anyone’s lips except Congress – followed by; it is forever banned. Period. End of discussion. No further evidence needed on the lies, deceit, fraud and total lack of food safety. Food safety can NEVER be guaranteed in equines. How much more proof do they need? If food safety laws were being followed, why is the EU just now ordering equines to be tested for bute and more importantly, what does this say about the integrity of the passport system? This is just infuriating. Everything we have been saying is front and center so where is the ban on horse meat?
Okay, I’m done!
We have been getting a lot of calls from reporters so I don’t think this is going to die down anytime soon. There are way too many articles to send you but here’s what we know, thus far, of where this has spread. Three were arrested from the raid of the two horse slaughter plants in the UK. Jo-Claire saw a new article today about 3 people being arrested but we don’t know if it’s the same 3 or 3 more because they don’t list the names.
Countries involved:
UK
Ireland
Scotland
France
Italy
Netherlands
Cyprus
Germany
Switzerland
Norway
Luxembourg
Romania
Poland
Sweden
Major retailers:
Aldi
Walmart (released to today they found horse meat in Walmart in the UK)
Latest:
Horse meat found in school meals in UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21475337
Walmart:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/walmart-horsemeat_n_2688782.html
Boston Globe:
Dangerous drug found in European horse meat
Now, the questions are:
Since Aldi and Walmart source globally, what is in OUR meat in retail stores? The Boston Globe article has a statement that it unlikely to happen in the US because we don’t import horse meat but what about the beef that is sold that comes from elsewhere? Walmart labels have 3 countries of origin (Canada, US and Mexico) so how can they say it’s not possible?
Was any of the horse meat shipped from Romania, Poland or Luxembourg imported from Canada or Mexico?
Stay tuned!
Related Articles
- Suffering, disease lurk behind horse-meat trade, says charity (horsetalk.co.nz)
- More tainted burgers, first arrests, in horse-meat scandal (horsetalk.co.nz)
- Horse slaughtering legal in US, but public won’t bite (usnews.nbcnews.com)
- New bill to allow Okla. horses slaughtered for meat (kfor.com)
- Horse Meat Found in UK School Lunches (newser.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
All of this comes as no surprise to me at all. As all of us ANTI’s have been accused of having a ‘crystal ball’, and being able to predict the future, being bunny hugging tree lovers, and anything else that could make us look less than credible…..we’ve ALL been saying exactly what is now happening, for a good number of years. If you are even a little bit educated on the issue of horse slaughter…..it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how all of this could, would, and IS happening, and WHY!
Unfortunately, money talks louder than words with our congressional leaders. They are more interested in their own pocketbooks, than in doing the right thing that they were all hired to do…protect us from fraud and deception. But, they are at the top of that fraud and deception list.
Come July of this year….hopefully, all of our horses will become protected from this horrid industry, and will no longer be wanted to brutally kill and dismember. I fear tho, that the supporters of this industry will find some way to forge documents, and get around the laws the EU is putting in place. We shall see tho.
Anyone consuming the meat of horses coming from America are getting their just rewards now, for not listening to begin with! I am not a person who wishes ill on others, but what better revenge can all the lost equines get?
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Humans don’t need meat so perhaps this will cause more to become vegetarians. I think there should be a beef boycott now for sure. Cattle ruin good land even in the Bluegrass section of KY and pollute the streams . Hogs pollute too so they shouldn’t be raised to be eaten either . As for chickens they furnish eggs and deserve to live. Feeding livestock takes grain away from poor people who need it and uses copious amounts of water also. Horses should never be slaughtered of course and hopefully this scandal will help stop it. If uncivilized people continue to eat horses they would have to kill their own. Eating horses is like cannibalism IMO.
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With you Barbara Warner! I am a vegetarian due to the fact of factory farming cruelty, meat contamination and GMO problems. Unless the government wakes up, there will continue to be a revolt of The People against horse slaughter and other animals slaughter. R.T. Where is the response from OBAMA (who BTW I didn’t vote for) to all of the letters and petitions about Wild Horses and horse slaughter. What has happened to Moran and the Amendment? Did Moran give up or do we have any hope left for this corrupt greedy ignorant government? We have not heard so much as a peep from this so called President.
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OMG….”Since Aldi and Walmart source globally, what is in OUR meat in retail stores?” I will blow a gasket if I have unwittingly eaten horse meat in the past. Seriously ! ! !
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Yeah, I’m sure the UK has blown a gasket! Just be careful, cover your ass and stop buying meat. They are giving our animals all kinds of bad GMO’s
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I completely agree with you RT. And if it doesn’t show up in this country its only because the retailers had enough lead time to clear their store’s meat counters before anyone here got curious.
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Thank God we don’t shop at Walmart for our food anymore. We shop at a local grocery store that gets their meat and produce locally so it is quite fresh. We had heard that the chicken was filled with hormones and the last time we shopped at Walmart the produce was just pitiful. Shriveled and withered and I was just appalled. I believe most of it is shipped in from CA. We left without getting anything there and went right to the local grocery store. I too, would be appalled if I have eaten horse meat in the past as well, like Jan Myers has said, I would die a little bit more inside. This whole thing keeps getting worse and worse as the days goes by,
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If they would stop slaughtering our horses, they would not need to test the horses for drugs of any kind. I am not saying that it is good to drug horses but some horses do need pain killers at times. We also have to worm our horses to keep them healthy! I hope that they catch everyone involved with the slaughtering of horses and put them in jail !!!
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likely all the border in mexico is under the control of the mexicen drug cartel, including the border slaughterhouses. To change those shipping containers of dead horses into beef label must be easy money.
We can see now the 100k American horses sent to mexican slaughter help the mexican drug cartel with a criminal enterprise. How many American horse traders are involved in this? Thei bank accounts should be checked for kickback drug cartel money from mexico.
How much beef and prepared beef meals are shipped from the numerous border work-factories into America? All shipments of horses for mexican slaughter should be stopped today with a mandate from President Obama.
Obama already has a mandatethat forbids business deals with the mexican drug cartels.
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I say we should build a wall of China up and no more horses over the border! AT ALL!
The Mexicans and its out of control drug cartel are the worst for our country…getting ready to pack up and head to the Mtns!
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Raids? I hope they are revolting like we are! A civil war is on the rise. I’m madder than hell and I’m not going to take it anymore! AMERICAN politicians, ETC take off your blinders and wake up!
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Read this … if you can stomach it (pardon the pun).
Factory Farm Alarm – Animal factories are laying waste to our environment and to public health
http://www.earthsave.org/news/factfarm.htm
What can we do about it? The end of the article has a number of suggestions.
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Let’s be realistic. The US in large measure is still suffering under an incredible drought, and/or the consequences of one. Hay is incredibly challenging to find, and expensive if you can find it. The competition with the hay exporters for decent quality hay is stiff. The existing farm programs encourage farmers to plant alternate crops, which have insurance and/or subsidy programs, or put productive hay land into the idle land program. Feeding horses is a luxury for far too many. But those of us who are dedicated to the welfare of our horses find the money somewhere, even when it means we do without.
But lacking a solidly reliable passport system, documenting that the horses have NEVER been administered a banned substance and that the requisite 6 month withdrawal from other controlled substances has been met, the packers must feedlot/quarantine the horses for 6 months before they can legitimately ‘process’ them for human consumption. Does someone want to explain HOW THE HELL they will be able to support the horses for that time and still hope to make a profit?
The packers and their backers in the US are not interested in ‘solving’ the problem of horses in trouble. They’re interested in making money. Period. History shows that the welfare of the horses is the least of their motivations. They don’t want the old, infirmed, compromised poor souls – they want young, healthy, well-fleshed horses that yield well. They do not want horses who may well not be able to survive the frequently horrendous conditions of transport, especially since existing humane transport regulations are poorly enforced.
And with these developments in Europe, their hoped-for market will disappear. So let them try – and go broke. Let them ignore economic reality at their peril. This isn’t a bleeding heart position, it’s an economic one which can less readily be dismissed as just a bunch of tree-hugging activists voicing concern for the welfare of our horses.
Believe me – after fighting for the horses for over 30 years, I’ve learned that the packers have little or no ear for the welfare of the horses. But they will have to listen to the reality that they’ll lose their shirts and go broke if they pursue their current course.
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First the advocates said HCHS was cruel.
Then we said, not only is it inhumane, the equines (wild or domestic) are not a legitimate food meat production animal because of no traceability or production records that are verifiable.
Again we said, “cruel, nontraceable” AND drug laced with no system to exempt drugged equines from the human food system.
Our education and science said through logical conclusion…..”Slaughtering equines for food will jeopardize the ENTIRE agricultural and food industries”….we told you so and we want our governments to do their freaking jobs….including those bought and paid for slugs in Congress.
But the kill lots still have equines awaiting a horrific death, regulators silent and looking the other way and trucks rolling on to the kill factories.
Notice the US’ silence????
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Don’t forget Burger KIng as well!
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If I buy beef at Costco am I any safer than WalMart?
Compelling questions I have. And so far no answers. I don’t know if that’s I’m asking a dumbbell question or one that alot of people are asking and there are no answers yet.
I can’t prove it but I know horse has contaminated beef in this country. We’ve seen horror videos of people abusing cattle before slaughter. We’ve seen slaughter houses closed because of failure to comply with the law.
And I saw several places in WY where you could take an exotic animal and have them slaughtered (2010)on my way to the Pryors.
I can only hope my turkey and chicken are not contaminated. People keep telling me to buy local and that’s fine. But that meat has to slaughtered and processed somewhere. How do I tell if a farmer is local? I suppose that might sound dumb but I live now on the outskirts of a big city. More in the country but still close enough that I’m citified.
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Try cruising the Local Harvest website. It’s a bit daunting until you get the hang of it. Enter your location and read each member’s profile. You should be able to find someone who raises beef and other meat naturally in or fairly close to where you live, plus a lot of other products. There are also people who’ll ship, often for free. The prices freaked me at first, until I clicked on several and realized they’re bulk. When I divided the dollars by number of pounds, the price is certainly higher than the “big boxes”, but, as always, you get what you pay for.
http://www.localharvest.org/
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I emailed the OK senator that introduced the horse slaughter bill and I laid it all out for him what will happen to the plant his friends wants to fill with horses for slaughter. I simply told him that if he thinks that the population of his state will start gobbling down horse meat he was mistaken. I also told him what Bute can cause in children and asked him if he wanted to be responsible for the child of a constituent to be stricken with aplastic anemia? I also forwarded him at least 5 EU newspaper articles to make my point. I told him that if he wanted to contact a professional about the dangers of horsemeat I sent him Dr. Ann Marini’s email address. I hope the man pays attention to what I said and to the newspaper articles. From what I read about OK these fools really believe that they can stick this in supermarkets and the public will buy it. Everyone in that state that owns a horse knows full well what they doctor their own horses with so I doubt they are interested in eating them.
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It makes me sick that our gov’t is so blatantly keeping the American people in the dark about so many issues, all so they can make more dirty money. How do they get around the law passed in 1971? And then you have non gov’t groups such as big oil, cattlemen, etc. But horse breeders are guilty too [AQHA . .Shame on you!] I know of breeders who don’t care about anything but trying to make money, and think that Mustangs are all hammerheads! Where is the compassion? I’m totally disgusted! I hope that at some point, this horror can end soon.
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I agree with Carol. It appears that the welfare is the least of their concerns. No one knows better than the people who lived in the states where horse slaughter for human consumption was taking place. The past slaughterhouses left all of the communities owing millions in violation fines. Did the counties ever collect? I know Illinois didn’t. Do these idiots really think that anyone in their right mind would feed this cancer infected meat to their families? I have an Italian freind who knows of a village where horse meat was consumed and many of them became seriously ill, so it has happened.
Its just not a myth. Again, keep the heat on our Legislators, they work for US, we don’t work for them and the 2% of the wealthiest people in the country.This will not stop until we have legislation against the slaughter of our equine friends and their transport out of our country.
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Gail, is there anyway you can get the facts on that horsemeat sickness in Itsly? What year, where, were they sure it was the horsemeat? Articles? That would really help out cause right now!
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You can add Hong Kong to the list of countries that have received notifications. It’s at the bottom of this page under “Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands” http://efoodalert.net/
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Good argument for leaving what few USDA inspectors we may have left at the traditional plants. Stupid to stretch them out inspecting horse meat, and irresponsible allowing states to inspect. Too much opportunity for mischief!
“EU ruling ‘paved the way’ for horse meat crisis”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9875216/EU-ruling-paved-the-way-for-horse-meat-crisis.html
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Reblogged this on Donkey Whisperer Farm Blog.
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Re-blogged!
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good discussion on an important topic… thanks for the information..
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