Sunday Edition: Horses as food

Quick bites from around the food safety arena

• The FDA is reporting that the nation’s supply of infant formula is safe after the “most rigorous examination” of products ever undertaken. Though details about which brands were included in the 312 samples were not shared, the FDA testing focused on heavy metals, PFAS, pesticides and phthalates, all of which “had undetectable or very low levels of contaminants.” The testing did not include foodborne pathogens such as Cronobacter, Listeria and Salmonella. The action was in response to a Cronobacter outbreak in 2022.
• Backyard poultry flocks are infecting people with antibiotic resistant Salmonella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of April 13, there have been 34 confirmed cases of infection with the strain Salmonella Saintpaul. Patients are spread across 13 states. Almost half of the patients are children under the age of 5.
• Horse meat was the likely source of an E. coli outbreak in Japan in 2023, but investigators have been unable to identify the contamination route. More than 70 people were infected, but no deaths were reported. Improved hygiene management at the shop suspected as the source has resulted in no new cases as of September 2025.
• The U.S. House passed the 2026 Farm Bill on a mostly party line vote Thursday. It’s the first time since 2018 that the landmark legislation has been updated. The bill sustains the $187 billion cut in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, often called food stamps, included the One Big Beautiful Bill Congress passed in 2025. A provision that would have barred states from requiring warning labels on pesticides was stripped from the legislation. The Senate now takes up the bill.
• The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a case with implications for thousands of lawsuits over the role of the weedkiller Roundup in individual cancer cases. The case tests the tension between federal and state rules governing potentially cancer-causing substances. Review the background on this issue in our recent Sunday deep dive on glyphosate.

Today’s Topic: Horses as food

It’s perfectly legal to consume chevaline in the United States, but it isn’t happening much at all anymore because state and federal laws have blocked the processing and commercial sale of horse meat in the United States. 

It was just 20 years ago that the “power of the purse” ended commercial horse slaughter in the United States. After Congress stopped funding the USDA inspectors in the 2006 budget, it was all over.

Within just one year, Dallas Crown in Kaufman, Texas, Beltex Corporation in Fort Worth, Texas, and Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois, were all gone. In that final year, the three facilities slaughtered nearly 105,000 horses, almost all for export.

The generation that grew up with Trigger on Roy Rogers, Silver and Scout on The Lone Ranger, and My Friend Flicka had spoken. They weren’t eating horse meat, also known as chevaline, which refers to the flesh of horses prepared for human consumption. 

That horse meat is banned in the United States is a fact that most of the world neither knows nor cares about. The equine food source remains as popular as ever outside the United States.

As recently as the 1980s, and certainly back to the Depression years and World War II, equine was as available as beef, pork, or poultry in the U.S. It was a popular menu item at Harvard Faculty Club.

 Sixteen federally inspected plants processing horse meat in the United States were still producing in the 1980s. But after  Congress pulled the plug on those last three plants twenty years ago, no horse has been legally slaughtered for human consumption in the United States.

There is no standalone federal law banning horse slaughter, and Congress has not made it illegal to eat horse meat. However, without USDA inspectors on site during slaughter, no horse meat can be sold legally in the U.S.

Forcing domestic equine plants to close ended the era in which an estimated 3 million horses were processed, mostly by European owners, for human consumption, mostly for export.

In the aftermath of the shutdown, exports of live horses to Canada and Mexico remain steady.

The European Union has banned the import of horse meat from Mexico since 2014. Horses from the United States must be held in Canadian feedlots for six months before they can be slaughtered for EU consumption.

“My biggest concern is that horses going to totally unregulated slaughter facilities in Mexico is much worse than even a poorly run U.S. plant,” said animal welfare expert Temple Grandin. ”In my opinion, the worst outcome from an animal welfare perspective is a horse being sent to a local Mexican abattoir. Once a horse crosses the Mexican border, there is no way to monitor how it is transported or slaughtered. A plant in the U.S. would be monitored by the USDA/FSIS, and the conditions for both transport and slaughter would be better.”

Exporting horses from the United States for all purposes remains strong, totaling $366 million in 2025, with the top five destinations being Japan, Canada, Ireland, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Exports increased from January to February 2026 by 42.5 percent, rising from $12.2 to $17.4 million. Japan, Mexico, Ireland, Canada, and China were the top buyers in February 2026.

Food safety was part of the argument that ended the U.S. horse meat era. And that came down to concerns that horses are not raised or kept as food animals intended for human consumption.   Rather, horses are routinely treated with drugs that are banned from the human food supply. 

Phenylbutazone, an anti-inflammatory commonly called “bute,” is widely prescribed by veterinarians for pain and swelling in sport or companion horses. It is banned for use in any animal intended for human consumption.

 With no system to track the lifetime drug exposure of horses, EU food safety regulators have difficulty certifying U.S. horses as safe.

The EU requires detailed medication records before approving horse meat, and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has flagged phenylbutazone residues as a food-chain risk.

About 12 states currently ban the sale of horse meat for human consumption. 

China is the world’s largest consumer of horse meat, often served in dried sausages. rice noodles and vegetables.  

Outside the U.S., horse meat is routinely on the menu in the rest of the Americas, including Canada, Mexico,  Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

In Europe, watch for it in France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland and elsewhere.

Elsewhere in Asia, including Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, as well as in Europe.

Pros of consuming horse meat

1. Lean, nutrientdense protein

• Horse meat is high in protein and significantly lower in fat than beef or pork.
• It contains about 21 percent protein and roughly half the fat of beef.
• It provides heme iron, vitamin B12, zinc, and other essential minerals. 

2. Healthier fat profile

• Horse meat contains more omega3 fatty acids and a better unsaturated to saturated fat ratio than most red meats.
• This makes it appealing for people with high cardiovascular risk factors. 

3. Distinct flavor and culinary versatility

• Its slightly sweet taste — due to higher glycogen— makes it a unique alternative to beef or venison. 

4. Lower environmental impact (in some systems)

• Horses produce far less methane than cattle and may require fewer resources in certain production systems.
• This can make horse meat a more environmentally efficient redmeat option.

5. Potentially healthier than conventional beef

• Compared to typical farmraised beef, horsemeat is leaner, lower in saturated fat, and richer in retinol and omega3s.

Cons of consuming horse meat

1. Risk of veterinary drug residues

• The most serious concern is contamination with phenylbutazone (“bute”), a drug banned in animals intended for human consumption.
• It can cause severe blood disorders in humans, and there is no safe exposure level.
• This risk is highest when horses are not raised specifically for food. 

2. Food safety and contamination risks

• Like all meats, horse meat can carry microbial risks if not handled properly.
• Proper slaughter and storage standards are essential.

3. Ethical concerns

• In many cultures, horses are viewed as companions or working partners, not livestock.
• This creates strong emotional and ethical objections to slaughtering them for food.

4. Cultural and religious practices

• Horsemeat is taboo in the United States, UK, and many Western countries.
• Some religions (e.g., certain interpretations in Judaism and Islam) discourage or prohibit its consumption.

5. Legal and regulatory complications

• In the United States horse slaughter for human consumption is effectively blocked because federal inspection funding is withheld.
• This makes legally sourced, traceable horse meat difficult to obtain. 

Out take
Food Safety News began two years after the last three horse slaughter operations had shut down. Because horse meat was not being produced or sold in the United States, we were not paying much attention to it.

Two years later, in 2011, we did report on the House Conference Committee report on the spending bill H2112, which, among other things, funded the USDA and removed the 2006 ban on the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) personnel being assigned to horse slaughter facilities.

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, horses are an amenable species, meaning horse meat cannot be shipped or sold for human consumption without inspection. The 5-year ban on USDA inspection had shut down the equine industry.

Then, President Obama, running for his second term, had made the deal to shore up his rural support during the widespread drought.  A Congressional report had questioned whether starving and abandoned horses would be better with a slaughter option.

As it followed up, Food Safety News learned that the USDA “grants of inspection” could allow horse meat to return, and that a handful of individuals were stepping forward to make it happen.

One was the late Wyoming State Rep. Sue Wallis. She was a voice for the resumption of horse slaughter, arguing that abandoned horses left without care often died of thirst, starvation, or predation. 

 Wallis claimed that humane slaughter at sufficiently capitalized plants would provide a better alternative to starvation and abandonment.  She had turned her attention to raising private venture capital after her fellow Wyoming lawmakers opted not to embrace a publicly funded state-owned horse packing facility.

At the end, Wallis was CEO of Unified Equine LLC, which had plans to build a horse-processing plant in Missouri before her untimely death in January 2014

Rick De Los Santos, a New Mexico rancher who owned the Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, was the first since the 2007 ban lifted to apply for federal inspection of horse meat for human consumption,  but only for export. In early 2012, Santos wanted to remake his closed 7,200-square-foot beef plant for horses.

Santos encountered fierce opposition from New Mexico state officials, who went to federal court to block, or at least slow, approvals. The  New Mexico meat plant received federal approval in 2013  to slaughter horses for meat. 

The USDA stated that it was required by law to issue a “grant of inspection” to Valley Meat Co. of New Mexico, because it had met all federal requirements. Similar stories played out in Missouri and Iowa before the USDA inspection window again closed.

Numbers

• 60 million is the world horse population.
• 7.2 million is the current U.S. horse population
• 6 million horses are slaughtered each year for human consumption.
• 10 percent of horses are used annually for human consumption.
• 40 percent of U.S. horses are kept for recreation
• The horse industry contributes $122 billion annually as generated for the U.S. economy by the equine industry.
• 1 in 9 Americans own or interact with horses yearly
• 25 to 30 years is the average lifespan of a horse in the U.S.

What it means
The status quo is unlikely to change with one exception.

The annual proviso added to USDA’s budget prohibiting any spending on the inspection of horse slaughter might be replaced with a permanent statutory ban.

Nothing else is likely to change because the 2011-12 opening of the inspection window did not provide sufficient time to locate, design, and finance new facilities.

When the window was open, Rick De Los Santos came close with a remade beef plant, and Sue Wallis reportedly had raised $6 million in Europe and maybe more in Wyoming.

But the time ran out too quickly and likely would again.