# Horse Meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057 "2013-02-01T19:01:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/1 "2013-02-01T19:01:20Z")
It seems that a commercial beef supplier had used some horse meat in some of it’s products. It seems impossible that horse meat could be cheaper than beef, given the scale of growing cows. Is it even plausible that this really happened? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/2 "2013-02-01T19:59:13Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > It seems impossible that horse meat could be cheaper than beef, given the scale of growing cows. It’s possible if he got it for free or near free. A lot of horses die/are put down every year from illness or old age. And a commercial butcher might be just the place to have a side business disposing of animal carcasses. Put 1 + 1 together and you get horse burgers. Still, seems like a rather legally risky practice - disgruntled or just loose-lipped employers talk. I’d have to assume it was either a _really_ hinky corporate outfit or some stupid-ass line supervisor acting on his own initiative or something. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/3 "2013-02-01T20:19:04Z")
It doesn’t surprise me that horse is found in supermarket meat products, (though at least in the UK it is surprising that a horse carcase would be in the same place as food is produced) My friend worked nights in a big local meat processing place (now safely closed) and he spent a lot of time re-dating out of sell by dated packets of meat for a supermarket. Hygiene was cursory and very low pay meant the Night shift were open to “bonuses”… ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/4 "2013-02-01T20:25:20Z")
I have no idea if the two things are related, but a guy here in Colorado was busted for not following BLM rules about buying wild horses. I do know that some people have strong suspicions about where those horses ended up. > [@](#): > > The Bureau of Land Management announced Friday it has severely restricted sales of protected wild horses to guard against mustangs being resold to slaughter. Read more: [http://www.gazette.com/articles/wild-149324-davis-horses.html#ixzz2JgHUu3LG](http://www.gazette.com/articles/wild-149324-davis-horses.html#ixzz2JgHUu3LG) ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/5 "2013-02-01T20:31:43Z")
Where is this commercial beef supplier located? The slaughter horses for human consumption in the U.S. was effectively banned in 2006 (by banning the use of federal funds to inspect horse slaughter plants and meat). The beef supplier would either have to get horse meat from Canada or Mexico, or have some way of slaughtering a horse him/herself. I don’t think it would be easy in a USDA-inspected facility to somehow slip a horse in amongst the cattle. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/6 "2013-02-01T20:35:00Z")
Horses are raised for consumption in some parts of continental Europe (France and Belgium, for sure, and maybe a few others). If they are processed at the same plants that slaughter cattle, maybe that’s how the cross-contamination occurred. I can see how carcasses could get mixed-up after they’ve been gutted and skinned. ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/horse-meat/649057/7 "2013-02-01T20:44:14Z")
This is actually a major story in Ireland and the UK at present, and the local Food Safety Authority are taking it very seriously. It seems that a filler product from Poland contained horsemeat, and was used as one of the ingredients in burgers made by a company called Silvercrest in Ireland. It wasn’t just a tiny amount of contamination: samples have been found to contain up to [29% horse DNA](http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/30/horsemeat-scandal-tesco-drops-supplier).