# Did I Hear This Right, We Can Now Eat Horse? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577 "2012-02-02T21:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/61 "2012-02-06T12:10:14Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But then they would have to know the difference. Well, the difference is obvious, if they’ve ever tasted both. If they’ve never tasted horse meat, I suppose they could be fooled into accepting it as beef. Nut is horse meat actually cheaper than beef over there? Here n America, edible horse meat is quite a bit more expensive than beef. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/62 "2012-02-06T12:17:15Z")
If you never have been told that this is horse, not beef, you couldn’t know and if restaurants that want to cut the costs use horse or donkey instead of beef I assume it’s cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/63 "2012-02-06T13:39:27Z")
I do remember a scandal back in the mid 70s about ground horse being served in american schools, no idea if it were true or not, but it was common for us to call anything made with ground beef other than hamburgers ‘monkey meat’ or ‘horse meat’ That being said, I have deliberately eaten horse and found it quite nice, more than comparable to bison/buffalo. Very lean, very sweet and mild meat. I would love to be able to walk into a grocery or butchers shop and buy it. _sigh_ I miss germany. I do hope that someone will start selling it locally. We have actually discussed getting a horse at a local stock auction and knacking it ourselves but that would be a hell of a lot more work than one of our sheep.☹ ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/64 "2012-02-06T15:26:15Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > … > Here n America, edible horse meat is quite a bit more expensive than beef. It’s a specialty meat, so you just have to pony up. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/65 "2012-02-06T19:16:00Z")
> [@toodlepip](#): > > It’s illegal to own, sell, buy or transport a horse without a passport. The system has many, many flaws, which may or may not work themselves out over the next couple of decades. There are dozens of horse breed societies etc that can issue passports, and initially the application forms could be filled in by any “competent person” who was able to do an ID drawing. Theoretically, you could have any number of passports issued for the same horse. It was later changed, new passport applications now have to be filled in by a vet, and the horse has to be microchipped. This means there are a lot of horses still out there with no microchip and the only means of identification is a dodgy ID drawing and an estimated height. I’ve known horse dealers with drawers full of passports, buying horses from Ireland and picking passports that vaguely matched their markings. Amother issue is that some drugs are administered by the owners themselves, and never recorded in the passport. There is also a lot of confusion over whose job it is to police all of this. Why drawings and not photographs? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![toodlepip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/97f17d/32.png) [@toodlepip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toodlepip)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577/66 "2012-02-06T19:51:55Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Why drawings and not photographs? 😕 Photos would be hard to standardise, and while white markings would show up well, whorls wouldn’t. The drawings look like [this](http://www.britishdrivingsociety.co.uk/society/passport_application_form_page_2.htm). White markings are outlined and hatched in red ink, whorls are marked with an x, and scars, brands etc are also marked. There is also a written description of the markings, which has to correspond with the drawing. These drawings had already been standard for horse vaccination cards for ages. The main advantage of the id drawings over microchipping is that anyone can identify a horse from a drawing, whereas you need a scanner to read a microchip. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-hear-this-right-we-can-now-eat-horse/611577.md?page=3)