Protesters to La Palette: horses are athletes, not food
By Bianca Puorto
Protesters from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition outside La Palette (all images by Bianca Puorto)
Protesters from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition paced back and forth in front of La Palette on Monday, holding signs that read “Stable to Table in One Week” and “Pet & Athlete Not Food.” The dozen or so activists were protesting the restaurant’s decision to return horsemeat to its menu earlier this month.
Holding placards and handing out leaflets, the protesters did their best to let passersby know that La Palette had resumed selling its horsemeat dishes after a seven-month hiatus prompted by concerns over the safety of meat from imported horses. Though the protesters were dedicated, reaction from the public was muted, with most people seeming more concerned with Family Day than debating horsemeat.
La Palette had originally removed horse from its menu in August 2011, after a Toronto Star investigation claimed that some of the horsemeat sold in Canada was coming from potentially contaminated animals imported from the US, where the government had stopped allotting funds for inspections of plants providing horsemeat for human consumption.
According to Marie Dean, protest organizer and coalition member, the biggest concern over horses from the US is that their meat may contain a drug called phenylbutazone (more regularly known as bute), an anti-inflammatory and painkiller.
“I’ve given bute to my own horses,” she said. “But if I choose to sell [my horses], I don’t have to put that on record because it’s such a common drug.”
“Horses are a cut above other animals,” she continued. “They are not raised for human consumption. They serve our society. Policemen ride them. They’ve gone to war for us and now they help our handicapped.”
Though he could not be immediately reached for comment, owner Shamez Amlani has long maintained that he is not ethically opposed to the consumption of horsemeat. Earlier this year he told Post City that he had stopped serving horse for safety reasons, choosing to err on the side of caution. He’s now confident that the meat he’s serving is safe.
“We’ve spoken at length with officials here in Ontario who do the testing,” he said. “We’ve spent the past six months doing as much research as we can. We’re very certain that we’ll be serving our customers high-quality meat.”
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Reader Comments:
The majority of horse owners do not want these animals slaughtered, and this was confirmed by a recent poll conducted by Lake Research Partners. Their findings revealed that 80 percent of American voters are opposed to the slaughter of U.S. horses for human consumption. The nationwide survey reveals that Americans oppose horse slaughter overwhelmingly regardless of their gender, political affiliation, whether they live in an urban or rural area, or their geographic location. Further, it confirms that a vast majority of horse owners are also against the slaughtering of equines. I am of the opinion that Canadians would register a similar opinion.
Horse slaughter is not for food production. Only animals that are specifically raised as food animals should be sent to slaughter. The EID (horse tracking document) is currently being falsified in the US, which is of course a source of half of the horses that arrive in Canadian slaughterhouses. Most recently in the news is a case highlighted by the Paulick Report that confirms what many have known for a long time – US kill buyers under contract to Canadian slaughterhouses are sending horses to Canada with forged EIDs. If you read the report you will surely acknowledge that horses were given prohibited drugs by previous owners within DAYS of being sold for slaughter and shipped to Viande Richelieu.
As a testament to the toxic nature of much of the supply of horsemeat, I quote Dr. Ann Marini, MD, PhD from her landmark, peer-reviewed study in the Food and Chemical Toxicology 50 (2012) 455–456
“Use in horses is limited to use in horses not intended for food. There are currently no approved uses of phenylbutazone (PBZ) in food-producing animals.’’ This statement by the FDA means that any horse administered phenylbutazone is ineligible for slaughter for human consumption. Phenylbutazone does not have a withdrawal time. Therefore, the dates the horses were given phenylbutazone in our paper are irrelevant because the drug is banned. The PBZ ban as outlined by the FDA is identical to the ban in the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and the European Union. Thus, if a horse is administered one dose of phenylbutazone, the horse cannot enter the food chain. The half-life of the drug in blood is irrelevant and the quoted time of elimination from muscle by the authors is unsubstantiated by scientific studies and is also irrelevant because the drug is banned.”
I have recently engaged the services of Advertising Standards Canada in tackling an issue of great concern, pertaining to the former website of Viande Richelieu Meats, a slaughterhouse in Massueville QC. In a previous incarnation of their website, they claimed that their horsemeat was “naturally sourced,” “pasture bred,” and “purpose-bred by their own stock.” Of course this is blatantly false; there is no way to sugar-coat it. The source of Viande Richelieu’s, and indeed all Canadian horse slaughter facilities is from previous owned private pleasure horses and racehorses, in the vast majority. Thankfully, ASC agreed and Richelieu has now removed the misleading terminology from their website.
Why must it fall to the public or the consumer to constantly be on guard and vigilant against false advertising and toxicological issues with food? Horse slaughter is a predatory industry in the US and Canada, where kill buyers mislead the public by placing ads in online newspapers to entrap sellers into giving away their family horses, in order that they meet quotas with slaughterhouses. As I and others have previously pointed out, prohibited drugs also enter the food chain, which is ignored by the very organization we rely upon to validate the quality and safety of our food – the CFIA.
For those foolish enough to believe the Canadian govenment that horse meat is inspected and safe read this article about one kill buyer,Kelsey Lefever, who was given race horses to rehome and then IMMEDIATELY sold them to slaughter houses in Canada. NO withdrawal period even for the drugs that can be eliminated and of course ALL race horses are given banned drugs for the human food system! Still think your meat is safe?
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/report-kelsey-lefever-to-get-probation-be-restricted-in-horse-activities/
Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation Inc. slaughter house in Quebec has been temporarily closed, with inspections and audits being conducted at the plant by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). La Petite-Nation (LPN) was the subject of the December 2011 investigative report by the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition (CHDC) entitled “Pasture to Plate: The True Cost of Canada’s Horsemeat Industry”: http://www.defendhorsescanada.org/lpn.html.
The report cites numerous violations underCanada’s Meat Inspection Act, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) animal welfare standards, cruelty violations, as well as reveals a flawed Equine Identification Documents system. LPN is one of two plants operating in Quebec, and one of four plants operating in Canada.
The CFIA’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Brian Evans, verifies the temporary closure in this February 16th email:
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012
From: Brian Evans
To: Sinikka Crosland
Sinikka
Thank you for your email inquiry.
With respect to Les Viandes de la Petite-Nation Inc., I am informed by Quebec Operations the enhanced inspection, verification and audit activities on the part of the CFIA continue and it is my understanding that the establishment has indicated its intent to temporarily suspend its operations. With respect to Viandes Richelieu I am advised its status is not changed.
Kind regards
Dr. Brian Evans
(613) 773-5236 / (613) 773-5763
Brian.Evans@inspection.gc.ca
We are seeking further information from Dr. Evans on La Petite Nation’s closure. In January 2012, the CHDC wrote to Dr. Evans to follow up on the Pasture to Plate report, since there had been no acknowledgement or communication of any kind from the CFIA on the violations that are occurring at the plant. Dr. Evans’ reply indicated that he would involve Quebec operations regarding horse slaughter violations and tracking system deficiencies at LPN:
The CHDC finds it questionable that LPN has closed operations voluntarily, yet the CFIA is conducting inspections and audits there. It is our opinion that findings from the Pasture to Plate report has prompted the CFIA to take measures to somehow try to improve conditions at LPN, but this fourth investigative report on Canadian slaughterhouses proves, once again, that horses cannot be humanely slaughtered in assembly line situations. We continue to ask the CFIA, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Canadian government to close all horse slaughter plants permanently.
http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/important-update-les-viandes-de-la-petite-nation-slaughter-plant-temporarily-closed/