Pony burgers at farmers market

Rollin

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It's weird how some people happily chow down on pork, lamb and chicken and yet as soon as the word horse is mentioned eating meat is suddenly unethical and immoral.

In this house it is not just horse we don't eat, we don't eat dog or cat either. We don't eat veal or battery hen either. I don't know if horse is delicious I have never tried it and contrary to popular belief, here in France very few people eat horse meat, in fact one supermarket we visit, has turned over a whole aisle to vegetarian food but horse meat consists of just a few steaks.

The answer to the problem of unwanted horses is not to breed them in the first place.
 

BSL

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In this house it is not just horse we don't eat, we don't eat dog or cat either. We don't eat veal or battery hen either. I don't know if horse is delicious I have never tried it and contrary to popular belief, here in France very few people eat horse meat, in fact one supermarket we visit, has turned over a whole aisle to vegetarian food but horse meat consists of just a few steaks.

The answer to the problem of unwanted horses is not to breed them in the first place.

So true...
 

conniegirl

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Ok why stop at horse meat why not turn cannibalism, I have herd human meat is good too. Maybe instead of all these rapist being in the position to clog out prisons up why not kill them and serve them up so they do something good for a change for society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooaqAnlyduQ

Because there are an absolute ton of diseases that could survive the cooking process and be contracted by the eater
 

ILuvCowparsely

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In this house it is not just horse we don't eat, we don't eat dog or cat either. We don't eat veal or battery hen either. I don't know if horse is delicious I have never tried it and contrary to popular belief, here in France very few people eat horse meat, in fact one supermarket we visit, has turned over a whole aisle to vegetarian food but horse meat consists of just a few steaks.

The answer to the problem of unwanted horses is not to breed them in the first place.

I vouch for that as I have a family member living in France and they say France now have very few horse meat butchers.
 

Shady

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In this house it is not just horse we don't eat, we don't eat dog or cat either. We don't eat veal or battery hen either. I don't know if horse is delicious I have never tried it and contrary to popular belief, here in France very few people eat horse meat, in fact one supermarket we visit, has turned over a whole aisle to vegetarian food but horse meat consists of just a few steaks.

The answer to the problem of unwanted horses is not to breed them in the first place.

My thoughts as well Rollin and if there is anybody on here who honestly thinks animals are dispatched humanely needs to go and spend time in an abattoir, i can honestly say that some of the people who work in these places have no souls and appalling things happen despite so called safeguards
 

conniegirl

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My thoughts as well Rollin and if there is anybody on here who honestly thinks animals are dispatched humanely needs to go and spend time in an abattoir, i can honestly say that some of the people who work in these places have no souls and appalling things happen despite so called safeguards
God only knows what horror shops you visited but I actually worked in an abattoir for quite a while and never saw anything bad happen. It was all humane and professional
 

Shady

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God only knows what horror shops you visited but I actually worked in an abattoir for quite a while and never saw anything bad happen. It was all humane and professional

My OH worked in one in Cornwall as an engineer for almost a year and the things he saw there really affected him, animals collapsing in fear and broken legs on sheep who wouldn't offload fast enough so were beaten badly so they fell off the ramps. Some of the men used to boast and joke about the animals freaking out , recent studies have proven that ants are self aware so imagine what we don't know about the thought processes of higher vertebrates? We still have a victorian attitude towards the meaning of the word humane.
 

Sussexbythesea

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Not what I meant to put, in my rush I meant to put plant eater- I can't remember the word

Herbivore but I knew what you meant. :)

I wouldn't eat horse meat knowingly and I don't think it would catch on in this country.

Plus if you make something worth something you don't breed less you breed more so it makes no sense!
 

Goldenstar

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Love horse meat. If more people ate horse meat then these poor quality animals would at least have a value upon their heads. After all, you don't ever see a skinny, neglected beef cow do you.

You see poorly cared for farm animals all over the place us eating something is no quarantee of it being well cared for .
I won't eat horse that my choice I rarely eat pork unless I know where it's come from I buy almost all my meat from where I know it's come from .
There's no reason to breed these scrubby ponies .
 

MotherOfChickens

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popsdosh

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My OH worked in one in Cornwall as an engineer for almost a year and the things he saw there really affected him, animals collapsing in fear and broken legs on sheep who wouldn't offload fast enough so were beaten badly so they fell off the ramps. Some of the men used to boast and joke about the animals freaking out , recent studies have proven that ants are self aware so imagine what we don't know about the thought processes of higher vertebrates? We still have a victorian attitude towards the meaning of the word humane.

If an abattoir is not run in a calm and humane manner it soon stops working. Take it from somebody who is regularly in a few rather than hear say from co workers who will do anything to wind up somebody slightly uneasy.
 

Frumpoon

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If an abattoir is not run in a calm and humane manner it soon stops working. Take it from somebody who is regularly in a few rather than hear say from co workers who will do anything to wind up somebody slightly uneasy.

Are you? What are they like? Are the animals panicking? Is it over quickly for them?
 

ester

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Paniced animals do not make good meat, in fact they make very bad meat that goes off very quickly, it is in their interests to keep animals calm. Any abattoir whose animal handling means high levels of stress would either be making no money or risk being ditched by the people they are supplying.

I'd be happy to eat horsemeat, but I am not convinced I would call DHP meat high welfare.
 

Shady

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Paniced animals do not make good meat, in fact they make very bad meat that goes off very quickly, it is in their interests to keep animals calm. Any abattoir whose animal handling means high levels of stress would either be making no money or risk being ditched by the people they are supplying.

I'd be happy to eat horsemeat, but I am not convinced I would call DHP meat high welfare.

Ester, a lot of the abattoirs are owned by big supermarket chains, Tesco's for example, and coming from Cornwall i can tell you that most people born there know the links between the east end mob and abattoir ownership, for every well run abattoir there are just as many , if not more that are badly run and poorly staffed.
My OH was a commissioning engineer, contracted to work in many production facilities including abattoirs, he lost his job after intervening in a group of workers throwing sheep off a lorry , you are wrong if you think all the animals die cleanly, there are always other means to dispatch an animal close by like a sledge hammer or iron bar and many pigs are still alive after being electrocuted before they go in boiling water .

''A typical slaughterhouse kills up to 1,100 pigs every hour. The sheer number of animals killed makes it impossible for them to be given humane, painless deaths. Because of improper stunning, many pigs are alive when they reach the scalding tank, which is intended to soften their skin and remove their hair.''
Cows , for example
"Slaughter: 'They Die Piece by Piece' After they are unloaded, cows are forced through a chute and shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun meant to stun them. But because the lines move so quickly and many workers are poorly trained, the technique often fails to render the animals insensible to pain."
Don't you ever wonder why some meat is really tough? and what the price is for cheap meat?
 

ester

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Where did I say I think that all animals die cleanly? No I didn't I simply gave the facts about the results of slaughtering stressed animals, I didn't say it never happens or that there aren't bad outfits still remaining. I've tested meat that has made me go WTH did they do to that bunch of sheep...

I am well aware of numbers, and how an abattoir chain works.
 

Orangehorse

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I vouch for that as I have a family member living in France and they say France now have very few horse meat butchers.

I thought salami was made with horse and donkey meat, which is why I never buy or eat it.
I have eaten horse meat in France and agree that it was good, although I slightly recoiled I admit. But then I do if rabbit is on the menu, simply because it is a fluffy bunny, it started as a delicacy and it really very nice.

We are too well fed really, that is the problem. The reason why the Chinese eat anything (and yes I have eaten jelly fish and chicken feet in a Chinese restaurant) is because they had to eat anything edible as the never had the climate/land/agriculture to produce sufficient food. French cuisine is about lots of sauces to disguise and extend what protein was available. In Britain the rich had plain roast meats and fish and the poor had gruel with the occasional protein thrown in when they could get it. That is how the British diet started and we have never had an appetite for horse meat.
 

Shady

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Where did I say I think that all animals die cleanly? No I didn't I simply gave the facts about the results of slaughtering stressed animals, I didn't say it never happens or that there aren't bad outfits still remaining. I've tested meat that has made me go WTH did they do to that bunch of sheep...

I am well aware of numbers, and how an abattoir chain works.
I didn't mean to sound like i was attacking you Ester :eek: perhaps it was unfortunate that your response appeared after Popsdosh and i firmly believe that most abattoirs are hell holes staffed very often by sadistic halfwits who can't get work elsewhere . I am not even a vegetarian but i do care where my meat comes from so i buy just beef locally from a farmer ,i guess for me it is where does it stop if it becomes the norm to eat horse meat, how long before it needs to be cheaper and cheaper by the kilo and more of it on the animal to make those mega deals in Iceland. Morally i think we should be looking harder at the food groups we already consume ,without adding another animal to it. x
 

ester

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I do think some probably get into that negative loop of not producing great meat so employ cheaper staff etc, then you have poor staff training any new ones too. I am also aware that I have likely met some of the best of slaughtermen. It will be interesting the effects that the CCTV situation has on the others.

If it did become part of the 'normal' we would be using animals bred for it and raising them the same way we do anything else, small mountain ponies wouldn't be the way to make it particularly viable.

The speed of the fastest lines over here are quick (and it doesn't go down well when you pause it to take samples ;)). The speeds of the US lines are pretty terrifying numbers wise but their systems are huge, highly automated and actually a lot of them are the ones that have put money into producing the best experience by following Temple Grandin's recommendations because they know that life is easier with calm animals.
 

MotherOfChickens

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I do think some probably get into that negative loop of not producing great meat so employ cheaper staff etc, then you have poor staff training any new ones too. I am also aware that I have likely met some of the best of slaughtermen. It will be interesting the effects that the CCTV situation has on the others.

I hope (probably naively) that the role would become more valued, with continuing training and possibly some sort of rota/training system in place to help prevent compassion fatigue.
 

conniegirl

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I didn't mean to sound like i was attacking you Ester :eek: perhaps it was unfortunate that your response appeared after Popsdosh and i firmly believe that most abattoirs are hell holes staffed very often by sadistic halfwits who can't get work elsewhere . I am not even a vegetarian but i do care where my meat comes from so i buy just beef locally from a farmer ,i guess for me it is where does it stop if it becomes the norm to eat horse meat, how long before it needs to be cheaper and cheaper by the kilo and more of it on the animal to make those mega deals in Iceland. Morally i think we should be looking harder at the food groups we already consume ,without adding another animal to it. x

Certainly not my experience when I worked in operations management at a couple of Shropshire abattoirs. In my experience it was a calm, quiet and professional environment, where farmers were welcome to watch the entire process, they had nothing to hide. animals were killed using captive bolt guns, no other way was acceptable in normal circumstances and there were certainly no crowbars etc. In the year I worked there I saw only one accident: a bull escaped (a gate gave way when a bull lent on it) and went on a rampage, it was shot by a marksman as humanely as possible given the circumstances.
As previously stated stressed animals make bad meat! and yes the abattoirs provided several major supermarket chains.
 
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