FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Int’l Fund for Horses
Contacts:
T. J. MacDonald
tammerly@horsefund.org
Vivian Farrell
vivian@horsefund.org
Canadian Food Inspection Agency sidesteps EU quarantine mandate
NEW YORK, February 1, 2010 – (iFH) The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has devised a system of merely reporting horse health histories, instead of quarantining them, as ordered by the European Union’s recent directive regarding slaughter horses in North America.
A year ago, iFH began alerting the European Parliament of the fact that horse meat exported from North America to EU member countries is adulterated because of the presence of Phenylbutazone (Bute) and other medications “not for use in horses intended for food” which are routinely given to horses in the United States and Canada. Bute is the most common pain killer prescribed for equines, referred to as the “aspirin of the horse world.”
Rather than ban the import of adulterated horse meat from Canada and Mexico, the EU responded with a new directive that requires equines from North America be quarantined for a period of six months prior to slaughter for human consumption.
Effective July 31, 2010, it will be mandatory for all facilities under the aegis of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency slaughtering horses for human consumption to have complete records for all equines (domestic and imported) presented for slaughter, as well as a record of medical treatments administered to the animal for the six-month period prior to slaughter.
“The requirement for enforcement of the six-month quarantine order is being virtually ignored by CFIA. The EU, by accepting these procedures, is not enforcing its own directive,” states Vivian Farrell, founder and President of the Int’l Fund for Horses. “It is frustrating that any equine who received Bute in his or her lifetime was previously banned from entering the human food chain in the EU. What changed?” adds Farrell.
Mexico, where horses are also slaughtered for human consumption, has yet to announce how they intend to comply with the EU six-month quarantine order regarding slaughter horses.
Equines are not currently slaughtered in the United States. However, the numbers of horses sent across the border to Mexico and Canada for slaughter doubled from 49,000 in 2007 to nearly 100,000 in 2009, according to trade data.
The Int’l Fund for Horses continues to educate European Members of Parliament on the export of adulterated horse meat to the EU not only from North America, but also Australia. Phenylbutazone and similar prohibited substances are also widely administered to equines in Australia. The EU has yet to issue a quarantine mandate regarding slaughter horses in Australia.
The Int’l Fund for Horses is the most influential equine advocacy organization of its kind with constituents in 19 countries. Headquartered in New York, the Int’l Fund for Horses works for the passage and enforcement of horse protection laws, and intervenes on behalf of horses in health, safety and welfare matters. Learn more at www.horsefund.org. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fund4horses.
If you would like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Vivian, please telephone 917.675.3453 or email her at vivian[at]horsefund.org.
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