N.M. Horse Processing Plant On Hold Again

Thehorse.com - Full Article

By Pat Raia
Nov 05, 2013

Just days after a federal judge threw out a lawsuit seeking to halt horse processing in New Mexico, a new order handed down by a Denver, Colo., appeals court has barred the USDA from carrying out inspections at U.S. horse slaughter plants.

Horse slaughter has not taken place in the United States since 2007 when a combination of court rulings and legislation shuttered the last domestic equine processing plants. Prior to 2007, USDA personnel carried out inspections at horse processing plants until Congress voted to strip the USDA of funds to pay personnel conducting those federal inspections. In 2011, legislation reinstated USDA funding for horse processing plants in the United States and, in June 2013, Valley Meats Co. LLC in Roswell, N.M., received a Food Safety Inspection Services (FSIS) permit, which allows placement of personnel at the plant to carry out horsemeat inspections...

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http://www.thehorse.com/articles/32821/n-m-horse-processing-plant-on-hold-again?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=equinomics&utm_campaign=11-10-2013