La Palette gets back on the horse
By Chris Carriere
La Palette: from nay to neigh (Image: Jon Sufrin)
Last summer, we reported that Queen West’s La Palette had pulled horse from its menu after a Toronto Star article shed some light on the shadier aspects of the horse slaughter industry. Well, after months of deliberation, La Palette is bringing the controversial delicacy back.
In 2006, a US bill defunded the inspection of meat processing plants that slaughtered horses. Since meat that isn’t inspected can’t be sold, the horsemeat industry in the US effectively collapsed. The result was that American horses were sent north (and south) to be slaughtered, but, as the Star revealed, that was bad news for horse eaters.
Horses aren’t generally raised for human consumption, and Canada’s differing inspection standards, which weren’t equipped to deal with the influx of American stock, led to fears that consumers were being exposed to phenylbutazone (PBZ), an anti-inflammatory drug used in horses but banned for human use.
But a bill passed by the Obama administration last fall has opened up the possibility for inspections in the US again, and La Palette will be bringing back equine delights as of Feb. 2.
“In light of the information that came out over the summer, we took horse off of the menu; we played it safe to make sure our customers were taken care of,” says La Palette co-owner Shamez Amlani. “But we’ve spoken at length with officials here in Ontario who do the testing, and … 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.”
Amlani is confident that, with inspections taking place in the United States again, American horses will no longer be mixed in with Canadian horses. And as always, he remains steadfast in his decision to sell horsemeat.
“If you need to point the finger at someone — I mean, to all of the animal activists out there, just look at McDonalds.”
Now, for the connoisseurs: La Palette will be serving both light horsemeat, which is firmer (Amlani calls it “Italian style”) and darker meat, which is softer, based on availability. They’ll be letting their customers know what they have in stock on a day-to-day basis.
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Reader Comments:
There is not 1 person I know, and I know many people, would consider eating a horse. That is disgusting! Unlike cattle or swine, they are not raised for human consumption. This is not any different than eating a dog. I will not be eating at this restaurant and I will be telling others to stay away as well.
What does McDonald's have to do with slaughtering and butchering horses. Where does this restaurant owner come from that he thinks only in terms of light or dark meat? Can't he tell us that the light horsemeat is most likely from the bodies of foals or weanlings. The darker meat from the older more mature horses. At least that is the way with cattle.
This owner is certainly cavalier about the conditions the horses suffer to the point of being slaughtered and butchered and as we know, the conditions are horrible. For example the recent video of killings in the modern plant designed by Dr. Temple Grandin and the discrepancy of paperwork in Canadian horses. From the report by Canadian Horse Defence Coalition: The CHDC’s report reveals troubling discrepancies and missing data on Equine Information Documents (EIDs), forms that are required by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to track the drug history of horses sold for slaughter, including more than 59,693 trucked in from the U.S. in 2010. (USDA figure)
The fact is that horse slaughter is rampant with discrepancies and outright misrepresentations, missing paperwork, stolen horses and horses sick and injured. Drugs and chemicals produced by the body in response to fear and pain. And as the above study revealed, the workers were just as cavallier and heartless, who knows the condition of the area where the meat is butchered and packaged? This is not the healthy diet humans should be eating.
And last: Why would any legitimate food purveyor want to feed his customers meat from animals that should be revered and protected?
Absolutely absure and grotesque; horses are not meant to be eaten, they are not livestock. And I love the way there is always this cavallier assurance that because the government says something will happen, it will; there have been horses sent to slaughter without coggins or titles and THAT is not supposed to happen according to the law but yet it does. Adhering to the law has not yet bothered the horse slaughter industry so why should we believe that meat will now be inspected? This is butchering for the sake of butchering and you can't explain that away no matter how hard you try.
So this restaruant owner has done his homework he says. Too bad he doesn't know that we still are not legally slaughtering horses, which means horses are not being inspected by the USDA for slaughter in the US, so they are still getting our toxic horse meat for now. BONA PETITE!
Pretty funny that this co-owner of a resturant who has done all this research does not realize that on Feb. 2, he could be serving his patrons US horse meat that is still filled with toxic drugs because horse meat in the US is still not inspected by our USDA, our horses still do not have a passport drug system and we still aren't slaughtering our American horses legally in the US. Bona Petite!
Anyone foolish and unethical enough to eat our horses really deserves what comes with it -- the 100+ drugs commonly used in sport horses that are banned from any animal used for human consumption. The horses being shipped to Canadian and Mexican slaughterhouses are our former racehorses, carriage horses, companions, sport horses, etc. And we routinely treat our horses with drugs like BUTE. Read about just a few of the drugs in question here: http://www.vetsforequinewelfare.org/prohibited-drugs.php
Here's a list of the various drugs found in racehorses (and yes, about 20% of all the horses slaughtered for human consumption come from the track! about 50% of them are quarter horses; the rest come from the Amish and others.)
http://www.community.tvg.com/t5/The-Grandstand/Drugs-in-Racehorses-Found-In-The-Last-Four-Years/td-p/695060
To learn the truth about this issue, start here: http://americansagainsthorseslaughter.com/uploads/AAHS-Horse-Slaughter-Truth-Deception.pdf
and here you will find info in statistics, pending legislation in the U.S., and other useful facts:
http://www.ripdeputybroad.com/
You really are what you eat.
Well, that's one restaurant that I can definitely cross fmy list. With the cruelty involved in horse slaughter, how can anyone eat these beautiful animals?
And the other readers are correct: What inspections of horse slaughter plants in the United States? Horses given toxic drugs are shipped right to Canada.
I hope the patrons of La Palette enjoy their phenylbutazone--a little tough on the liver but truly a delicacy.
This problem is going to take care of itself. When the horse eaters get sick from ingesting buted horsemeat, they'll either die off or sue the restaurant owner for making them sick. The restaurant owner will go out of business. Problem solved! It's amazing to me that people actually trust the system enough to eat this stuff, when 99% of the horses slaughtered were people's pets. Do they honestly think people are going to be honest about whether or not they gave bute to their horse? What a joke. Those of us who go to the auctions and follow the horses to the plants know full well that they are buted horses. As for the horsemeat eaters.... oh well. Darwin Awards!
UUMMMMMMM.Feb.2? I am in the US. We currently Have NO Inspectors For Slaughter Horses Our Horses with all their BUTE continue to pass thru Your Borders and unless Your borders are closed to them will continue to do so on a daily basis! The EID's are not worth the paper they are printed on and offer no protection or assurance the meat your gonna put on those plates does not contain drugs banned for use in slaughter for Human consumption..
La Palette clearly couldn't care less about the health and safety of its patrons, for if they did, they would have expended a greater effort to properly research this issue.
While the US ban on horsemeat inspections may have been lifted, there are NO horse slaughter plants operating in the US and there are no plans at the USDA to reinstate horsemeat inspections should someone decide to open a horse slaughter plant within the US.
La Palette will be serving the very same drug-laden horsemeat it did prior to its self-imposed ban on this so-called "delicacy."
US and Canadian racehorses, sporthorses, and other old, sick, and otherwise infirm horses, that have been treated with bute, clenbuterol, steroids, etc. are once again on the menu at La Palette...yum! I wonder if they'll be serving this drugged- up meat with a nice chianti or perhaps a free voucher for chemo-therapy? Bon appetite!