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  • 2011-11-29 (xsd:date)
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  • Horse Slaughter for Food (en)
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  • Although the practice of consuming horsemeat was once fairly widespread in the U.S., it has been rather uncommon since the mid-1940s. In recent years the sale and consumption of horsemeat has not technically been prohibited in the U.S., but in 2006 (after efforts to ban horse slaughter outright failed) Congress passed a measure that cut off funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspections of horses and horse slaughterhouses, thereby effectively ending the production of horsemeat (for domestic or foreign consumption) in the U.S. — meat that cannot be inspected cannot be sold. The last three horse slaughterhouses in the U.S., in Illinois and Texas, were shut down by state laws in 2007: Examples: [Collected via e-mail, November 2011] Although the practice of consuming horsemeat was once fairly widespread in the U.S., it has been rather uncommon since the mid-1940s. In recent years the sale and consumption of horsemeat has not technically been prohibited in the U.S., but in 2006 (after efforts to ban horse slaughter outright failed) Congress passed a measure that cut off funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspections of horses and horse slaughterhouses, thereby effectively ending the production of horsemeat (for domestic or foreign consumption) in the U.S. — meat that cannot be inspected cannot be sold. However, efforts by individual states and Congress to stop the slaughter of U.S. horses for food didn't necessarily end the practice entirely, as in recent years well over 100,000 horses have been hauled off from the U.S. to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico annually. A huge spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in November 2011 was stripped of an amendment to continue the ban on funding inspections, thereby opening the way for horse slaughtering plants to begin reopening in the U.S. However, the issue is still somewhat up in the air, as the spending bill allowed for the funding of USDA inspections of horse slaughterhouses but didn't allocate any additional money to the agency for that purpose: Proponents of the measure maintained that since the U.S. has an excess horse population which is being taken off for slaughter in other countries, it would be better if that activity took place here in the U.S. where it could be monitored by the USDA: In March 2013, Oklahoma legalized the slaughter of horses for meat exports (a practice which had banned in that state since 1963), but processing plants there are still awaiting authorization by the federal government to begin operations. (en)
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