Posted on 05/01/2013 4:31:41 AM PDT by iowamark
The southern New Mexico plant that has been fighting for more than a year for permission to slaughter horses will open soon, unless Congress reinstates a ban on the practice, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mr. Vilsack said his department was working to make sure the process was handled properly for the opening of what would be the first domestic horse slaughterhouse in six years.
“We are going to do this, and I would imagine that it would be done relatively soon,” he said.
The Valley Meat Company sued the Department of Agriculture last year, asserting that inaction on its application was driven by emotional political debates and that the delays had cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The department reinspected the plant last week.
“It will open unless Congress restores the ban on horse slaughter that they had in place,” Mr. Vilsack said. “If that doesn’t happen, then we are duty bound to do what needs to be done to allow that plant to begin processing.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Horse. It’s what’s for dinner.
Nothing wrong with horse meat.
Neigh, neigh, a thousand times neigh!
i think you got a picture of the wrong end.
I’ll eat horse meat if it makes Moslems puke.
Did you ever taste it? I did, accidentally in Belgium where they make their hamburgers out if it. Trust me, you will spit it out.
“Wilburrrr......wha-what are you doing with that chain saw, Wilburrrrrrr!!!?”
My dad (while he lived with me at the end of his life) never knew that 90% of the ‘beef’ he ate was deer.
True, true...
I would eat dog, cat and any other meat I would find suitable.
Deer elk and other game don’t restrict their movements. I find them very good eating.
I'm sorry to hear you'd eat dog or cat. I guess the proper question would be, what wouldn't you eat?
I am puzzled at your comparison of deer and horse. I’ve helped butcher deer. There is barely any fat inside the muscle, just a thin layer around some cuts. The deer on my property may sleep during some of the day, but we see them at all hours and they run, walk and move most of the time. Compared to grazing horses I’ve observed, the deer can be more highly active. The local deer feed on corn and berries.
The key to tender deer meat is hanging, short periods of marinade and quick cooking. The large muscle cuts are tender and tasty. The tougher cuts are ground. The meat in the neck and legs is full of tendon and can even be difficult to grind, as the tendon will wrap around the auger and clog the plate. I simmer these cuts until tender and use them for dog food. The collagen in the connective tissue is good for the dog.
I’ve spoken with people who have eaten horse. One comment heard a lot is that it is *sweeter* than beef.
I’d try it and make up my own mind.
They have slaughtered horse meat for many decades and unless your taste buds are dead you would know if you had horse meat, it is different even the ground stuff.
In the meantime they have just been exporting horses across the border while Vilsak and his cohorts ignored the law.
That is what I’ve heard from several people. I haven’t ever tasted it though.
Ya know, the horses that get slaughtered are those that are unwanted. They are too old or the people think they can afford to keep a horse and find they can’t.
What has been inhumane is the horses that have starved to death because their owners couldn’t afford to feed them and that is why we can slaughter horses again.
I wonder if Whole Foods will carry it...
Horses aren’t raised for slaughter like cows, nor are they hunted. Most of those that are slaughtered belonged to irresponsible owners and lacking the slaughterhouse many just starved to death.
We have had many horses and we kept them up to their old age and never sent one to slaughter but when it got to where they could no longer eat or lay down and you could see that they were in excruciating pain, we shot them.
The guy I know who has been sending them to slaughter in Mexico just feeds them like you would a normal horse until he gets a truck load.
I’ve seen pleasure horses locked up in a stall most of their lives and it had nothing to do with eating them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.