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Articles
Legislative debate grows on processing horse
meat in U.S.
Oct 3, 2002
Equine slaughter
Legislative debate grows on processing horse meat in U.S.
By Barry Shlachter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The last roundup for tens of thousands of American stallions and mares ends not
far from Fort Worth's historic Stockyards.
Their destination, Beltex Corp.'s peeling walled compound on North Grove Street,
is becoming the focus of a growing campaign to end equine slaughter.
For the past 27 years, trailers have hauled horses into the plant, the nation's
largest horse slaughter and packing facility and one of just two left in the
country. There, before the eyes of federal inspectors, the animals are
slaughtered after first being stunned in a manner like that typically used on
steers.
The carcasses are processed into steaks and other cuts for Europeans and Asians
-- Germans eat sausages called `pferdwurst,' and some Japanese consume thinly
sliced, sushilike raw `basashi.' In addition, some meat is sold to U.S. zoos,
including Fort Worth's and the National Zoo, as the staple diet for cheetahs and
lions.
The well-scrubbed kill floor and processing operation mirror that of any of the
better, federally regulated hog and cattle plants, insists Dick Koehler, the
American general manager of the Belgian-owned Beltex.
"Same concept, just a different species," he said as he stood near a stack of
corrugated boxes imprinted with "Taste of Texas."
But the thought of eating such meat -- no matter how humanely the animals are
handled -- upsets many Texans and other Americans, who love their horses and see
them as companion animals, not a protein source. Unsurprisingly, there is scant
popular support for an industry that is entirely foreign-owned and dependent on
overseas markets for demand.
And campaigners against horse slaughter have gained ground.
From a dozen facilities a decade ago, the U.S. horse meat industry has undergone
wholesale consolidation, reducing it to just two companies -- Beltex, with about
100 workers, and Dallas Crown with 50 in Kaufman, southeast of Dallas and also
Belgian-owned.
The number of horses slaughtered at packing plants in the United States has
dwindled significantly -- to 56,332 last year from 346,000 in 1990 -- as the
industry has consolidated, new competition has sprung up from countries such as
Argentina and Australia, and demand from primary markets in Europe has swung.
The two Texas plants have always avoided publicity, rarely giving interviews or
plant tours to the news media. Their low profile and the relatively small size
of their industry cripple efforts to combat what they say are misconceptions or
untruths spread by critics.
Two other U.S. plants, also Belgian-owned, have burned down since 1997. The
first fire, in Redmond, Wash., was found to have been caused by arson and
reports attributed it to the radical Animal Liberation Front, which did not deny
them. The cause of the second blaze, in March in Dekalb, Ill., was undetermined.
Proponents of slaughter argue that it is done humanely. A pneumatic device
shoots a stream of air into the animal's brain, rendering it unconscious, before
the throat is cut. Proponents also argue that humane slaughter is the best
option for horse owners who can't afford to have a horse euthanized and then
have its carcass hauled away or cremated.
Finally, proponents argue that many horses would go neglected if not for the
option of slaughter.
Packing houses such as Beltex typically purchase their horses at auction,
competing against other buyers. Horses are not raised for slaughter.
During a recent tour at the Beltex plant, scores of white-smocked workers with
rubber gloves and blue helmets transformed carcasses into filets. Koehler, the
general manager, was eager to show off the operations to a reporter permitted
entry after more than a decade of unreturned phone calls.
The general manager was clearly ill at ease with questions about the scope of
the business, which went unanswered. The tour was conducted after any actual
killing, so the handling of the horses could not be viewed. The company declined
a request for a return visit to watch the complete process.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. horse export sales have
fluctuated between $30 million and $41 million annually since 1997.
What prompted Beltex to permit the tour was a move in Congress to ban the export
of horse meat following California's 1998 prohibition of equine slaughter.
No apparent opposition to the House measure has yet to materialize. And Beltex
and Dallas Crown have no lobbyists.
But the bill needs to clear three committees before Congress' mid-October
adjournment, which is looking less certain every day, legislative aides say.
"I would look to the Agriculture Committee," said Kate Dickens, a senior
legislative aide to Rep. Connie Morella, R-Md., the bill's lead sponsor. "They
don't have a tradition of passing animal legislation."
Developments in Texas may change the picture.
Chris Heyde, a lobbyist for the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, said
he was encouraged by an Aug. 7 opinion by Texas Attorney General John Cornyn --
a senatorial candidate -- that a 1949 Agriculture Code section makes the sale,
possession or shipment of horse meat a criminal offense. It carries a fine up to
$1,000 and 30 days' jail time and clears the way for an injunction to close the
processing plant.
"We're hoping this Texas ruling will help us," Heyde said. "Obviously, people
don't want the horses shipped to Canada or Mexico, and this bill would prevent
that."
Last week, Kaufman County District Attorney Bill Conradt said he hoped to close
down Dallas Crown this year by using the 53-year-old law as the basis of
criminal prosecution. No charges have been filed, but Conradt said he has begun
an investigation. Kaufman-based Dallas Crown and its attorney, Mark Calabria,
did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
A possible move by Tarrant County is less clear.
"We haven't taken a position that the Agriculture Code [section] is or is not
correct," said Ann Diamond, an assistant district attorney who heads the civil
litigation division.
At issue, Diamond said, is whether federal regulations take precedence over the
Texas law. She noted that state, local and federal agencies accepted Beltex's
taxes and fees for more than two decades.
Beltex's lawyers say that they are fully cooperating with the district
attorney's office, and that the company "strongly believes that it is not
violating the law."
"We're still doing our research," Diamond said, adding: "Even if it turns out to
be legal, it remains a sensitive issue."
But why?
Americans apparently inherited their aversion to horse meat from the British.
In Calvin Schwabe's 1979 book, `Unmentionable Cuisine,' the medieval English
considered horses too holy to eat routinely. Others in Europe commonly ate horse
for ages.
France has some 1,500 specialty horse butcher shops. But horse meat's popularity
has been hurt in recent years by health scares involving horses from Poland,
which reportedly left some 900 people sick in recent decades.
In Texas, Cornyn's opinion was prompted by a state representative responding to
a constituent, Dallas real estate lawyer Skip Trimble, an animal rights
activist.
Part of a group called the Texas Humane Legislation Network, Trimble said he was
asked to find ways to get horse slaughter banned. "When I researched it, I found
it was already outlawed."
Trimble said he had no problem with old horses being euthanized by a
veterinarian, their remains then rendered into animal feed. "But if the French,
the Italians and Japanese want to eat horses, they should eat their own," he
said.
Should shipments from Texas stop, rival exporters in Argentina, Canada, Mexico,
Australia and New Zealand can easily pick up the slack.
Like other critics, Trimble asserted that the commercial slaughter and transport
of horses is being done in an inhumane manner.
Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the Food Safety and Inspection Service, said
there's no evidence of mistreatment at the two Texas facilities, which must not
only undergo federal inspection but also rigorous periodic checks by European
Union officials.
Temple Grandin, one of the nation's foremost authorities on humane treatment of
livestock, expressed fears that a ban on horse slaughter might lead to thousands
of U.S. horses shipped across to Mexico where plants are not as humanely run.
A ban might sound good to some officials, said Grandin, an assistant professor
at Colorado State University at Fort Collins. "But they have no understanding of
the consequences."
"Some horses do get hurt on trucks," she added. "But the biggest problem is
owner neglect -- long before the horse gets to a slaughterhouse."
A veterinarian group, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, refuses
to take a stand, calling horse slaughter a "cultural issue."
But its president-elect, Dr. Thomas R. Lenz, said: "My personal position is that
a ban is not going to solve anything. It doesn't resolve the problem of unwanted
horses."
Horses slaughtered
The number of horses slaughtered and processed at packing plants in the United
States has dropped substantially in the past 10 years.
1990 345,900
1991 276,700
1992 243,500
1993 169,900
1994 107,000
1995 109,200
1996 105,000
1997 87,200
1998 72,100
1999 62,813
2000 47,134
2001 56,332
Horsemeat exports
Europe is the biggest importer of U.S. horsemeat. Last year's largest
importers:
Belgium-Luxembourg $19.15 million
France $7.86 million
Switzerland $6.8 million
Russian Federation $2.3 million
Japan $2.2 million
Mexico $1.2 million
Italy $1 million
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Posted Oct 8, 2002
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Nutrition
Advisory Group