Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Horse Meat Inspections at Two U.S. Plants

Animal rights groups have taken legal action against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prevent the inspection of horse meat intended for human consumption. This lawsuit comes as the USDA approves horse slaughtering at two facilities, reigniting debates over the practice.

Several animal rights organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States and Front Range Equine Rescue, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the USDA. They aim to stop the department from inspecting horse meat that some companies plan to produce for human consumption.

In a separate announcement, the USDA approved horse slaughtering at a plant in Iowa, marking the second facility approved for processing equine meat in less than a week. On Friday, it announced it would provide inspection services to the Valley Meat Company in Roswell, N.M., for the same purpose.

Responsible Transportation of Sigourney, Iowa, and Valley Meat would be the first two plants to process horses since 2007, when Congress effectively banned equine slaughter. The prohibition ended in 2011, and various companies, many backed by European investors, have sought inspection services for horse meat ever since.

The animal rights groups involved in the lawsuit — the Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue, Marin Humane Society, the Horses for Life Foundation, and Return to Freedom, along with five individual plaintiffs — contend that the USDA did not perform reviews required by the National Environmental Protection Act before authorizing Valley Meat to operate.

“The U.S.D.A. has failed to consider the basic fact that horses are not raised as a food animal,” Hilary Wood, president of Front Range Equine Rescue, said in a statement. “Horse owners provide their horses with a number of substances dangerous to human health. To blatantly ignore this fact jeopardizes human health as well as the environment surrounding a horse slaughter plant.”

Valley Meat has stated that it will test the meat it produces to ensure it does not contain any residues of certain harmful substances.

The company, however, ran afoul of New Mexico environmental regulations when it operated as a cattle slaughterhouse after regulators took photos of piles of rotting carcasses on its property. After tangling with the regulators, Valley Meat closed, citing financial difficulties, in 2012.

The New Mexico attorney general recently raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of horse slaughtering and said the office’s environmental crimes unit would monitor Valley Meat to ensure its compliance with state environmental laws.

The Obama administration has asked Congress to once again ban horse slaughter, but the USDA has said repeatedly that until that happens, it must provide inspection services.

The department referred calls about the lawsuit to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

Originally Posted By The New York Times