Did Obama really legalize horse slaughter or that just propaganda?

[gallop]

You already have a couple informative answers on the refunding legislation. I would add that the funds for the USDA inspections have not been allocated as yet. The issue of horse slaughter and sale of horse meat for human consumption in the US is state legislated. Illinois, Texas, California and Oklahoma all ban the slaughter of horses for their meat and ban the sale of horse meat for human consumption. Another 43 states ban the sale of horse meat for human consumption.
So, there are only a handful of states that allow horse meat to be sold within their borders. If slaughterhouses open in any state banning sale of horse meat for human consumption, they will have only the foreign markets in Europe and Asia to sell to.
The majority of US citizens oppose the opening of US slaughterhouses as is evidenced by the state laws already in place, there is powerful opposition to these plants opening in the US again, and any investors in this business will be in for a fight. There are permits, EPA issues, and community opposition to overcome and all of that can delay the actual opening of a slaughterhouse.

The European market for our horse meat is due to dry up in the near future anyway, which any potential investors will be acutely aware of. The electronic microchip ID monitoring from birth to slaughter to be required for the new European database will virtually end the market for US horse meat, since our horses are not monitored in a veterinary database for life, and the vast majority would not qualify to render meat for human consumption in the European market even if they were monitored because of the various prohibited drugs that riding horses are routinely administered. If the Asian governments follow their lead, there will be no market for our contaminated horse meat.

So, Obama did sign a bill that allows for the refunding of USDA inspection of horse meat for human consumption. But to get from there to finding actual funding for inspections in a paper thin federal budget and getting past the enormous opposition and issues facing anyone seeking to open an equine slaughter facility may take some doing.

Add..................... This is a good blog pointing out some facts about the impact that opening a slaughterhouse has on a community, and how this business costs us as taxpayers to subsidize foreign profit.

http://our-compass.org/2011/11/29/obama-...in-the-us/