Horsemeat for dinner anyone?

I am very like you Iam64 I probably only eat meat 2 or 3 times a week I really like Quorn I do eat mainly chicken or turkey and also get it from a reliable source cant bear to eat eggs if they are not free range and have never eaten anything more 'exotic' since I lived overseas I don't like fish but do like sea food however horse is a live creature like all the others we do eat and in my opinion as long as they are killed humanly I can't see a difference

I'm not sure what affect seling horsemeat here would have on a horses value[supply and demand and all that]. It's a very dangerous time for a horse/pony when it's value goes down to it's meat value .

A butcher has been told to take down his display because people do not like the look of it. I have just heard him on the radio, and it's not the vegetarians or vegans who are complaining.

www.gettingoutofhere.co.uk/horses.html#ponies

This link makes it clear that exporting live horses for slaughter is banned.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-26050572

Everything I have read suggests that horses are not exported live for slaughter from the UK. However, there may well be some illegal export going on. Unfortunately if we in the UK ate more horsemeat it would be unlikely to stop that, since we already export horsemeat to Europe. Not sure if I'm making any sense but I think I know what I mean.

Are you sure? The S.O. saw a lorry full of horses a couple of years ago and he felt sure they were being transported; even though he onlytold me about it and I didn't actually see it myself it's haunted me ever since. I know I signed lots of petitions years ago to stop it happening.

Tegan there is no live export of horses for slaughter from the UK. I have read that it is illegal but I haven't been able to verify that. Instead horses are slaughtered here for the European market.

I love duck, but we haven't eaten any for years because they are so badly treated. I believe even ducks sold in Waitrose don't have access to water for swimming.

If selling horsemeat here will stop live transportation then I'm fine with that. But I couldn't eat horsemeat. Do they really do that to ducks?

I love horses, but agree with others who say the real issue is animal welfare, rather than whether the fact horse meat isn't generally sold in the Uk.
I eat meat, possibly 3 times a week. I only buy free range hens, can't find any free range ducks, so won't buy them, as I find the notion of ducks with their beaks off, and no access to water simply abhorrent. I buy lamb from our local butcher, as I see his sheep enjoying life on the moors, before they make the journey to his shop. He also sells free range pigs and venison.

I don't eat farmed fish.

I don't want to become vegetarian, but I do want to do what little I can to ensure we don't cook anything that hasn't walked about, and enjoyed some freedom

I feel that there should be no difference whatever animal you eat if you have decided to be a meat eater whatever animal it is dies for your appetite I have probably eaten horse in Europe I have definitely eaten dog regularly although I didn't realise it at the time I see absolutely no difference between a horse and a cow or lamb unless the horse was my personal pet. Like a rabbit, I wouldn't eat my own pet but have enjoyed rabbit in the past

I eat very little meat now but still feel that you can't differentiate between any animals unless they are personal to you

I used to have a horse and loved him to bits - wouldn't have eaten him though - far too old and tough.

I see nothing wrong with eating horse - provided it's been treated well and not transported halfway across Europe without food, drink or rest as happens now. I like to know where my dinner comes from and that it's preferably had access to the outside, has space, good food not been ill treated. This applies to any animal, horse, cute calf, clever pig, wooly little lamb or fluffy bunny.

I agree with nightowl too, but then I would! (Both vegetarian)

Horse meat is leaner & healthier than beef or lamb and I often enjoy a horse steak from my local supermarket as it is less expensive than beef.
As for eating pets, as a boy every year I reared pet lambs and one or two of them ended up in the deep freeze. Larry was very tasty with some mint jelly!

Could never eat my pet....but that cat over the road that poos in my garden, now I just might......

Yes.

Agree with nightowl.

And one final point; although I don't eat meat of any kind, I do think there is a difference between eating animals that have been bred for food and eating an animal that has been bred to become a companion animal, that has been brought up to have trust in humans and to work in partnership with us, only to be killed and eaten when it's useful days are over. That to me is the ultimate betrayal of trust and no different from eating my pet dog or cat.

As for it ending the live export trade, how exactly would that work? We export thousands of live sheep and cattle to be killed and eaten abroad even though we also eat those animals here.

Do we really believe that farm animals are treated better than horses, simply because they have value as meat? And that horses would be treated better if they were also seen as food animals? Dream on.

I have eaten horse salami and horse bresaola in Italy. The salami wasn't nice at all and we fed it to the ducks (they loved it!) the bresaola tasted just like beef.
As a lifelong horse fanatic I think what she says makes perfect sense. There are so many starved and abandoned ponies now who might have a better life if they were being farmed for meat. And if we were eating horses perhaps it would mean an end to the horrible live export business.

Somebody mentioned grey squirrels. During the war General Omar Bradley was staying with Lord Halifax and was amazed to find that, inspite of food rationing, no one was eating the squirrels. The gamekeeper was ordered to trap some squirrels and prepare them for the kitchen. This the gamekeeper (very) grudgingly did. Unfortunately he didn't realise that they have a scent gland under the tail which must be CAREFULLY removed when you skin them. The meat was quite inedible because it was tainted with the scent and the experiment wasn't tried again.

we went to Smithfields last year in hopes of getting 'something different' and all they sold was the usual beef lamb pork, on the grounds that we had to get up at dawn , I was very disappointed, but have to admit that the meat we did get tasted 200% better then what we can get here

Article in the OP is from 15th November last year, so why has this been resurrected?
Is it being sold any more in the butchers?

MiceElf Rabbit (home produced and imported) and squab (young pigeon) were still widely available in the UK last year and I haven't heard any reason why there should suddenly be a shortage now.