Horse Meat - Yea Or "Neigh"

It’s been two months since the horse meat scandal broke across Europe. The uproar wasn’t so much about the eating of horse meat, Europeans knowingly eat horse meat on a regular basis, but about the undisclosed substitution of horse meat in the food chain. In 2011 Congress lifted the ban established in 2006 that prevented horse slaughter here in the U.S.. At present no plants are authorized to slaughter horses, but several companies have reportedly asked that the USDA Food and Safety and Inspection Service re-establish inspections. Last October Valley Meat filed a lawsuit against the USDA and the FSIS alleging that the USDA was violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act by failing to offer inspection for horse meat. The issue of horse slaughter is of course a very emotional one. Most Americans consider horse meat off limits, but that hasn’t always been the case. Near the end of WWII beef was in short supply so many turned to horse meat. There are now attempts to reinstate the federal horse slaughter ban. If Congress doesn’t act to reinstate a ban on horse slaughtering, the U.S. will be legally obligated to inspect horse slaughtering plants, and horse meat may once again be on the menu.