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Friday, July 25, 2014

Seven European Union Countries meat samples test positive for horse DNA

Habitat for Horses

Posted:  by Posted by Habitat for Horses

A bit of good news is that the percentage of meat that is testing positive is down by 75%. The bad news is that 16 countries actually tested positive for having horse meat mixed in with their regular meat not 7 as the title suggests. The public needs to know what they are eating, especially in Europe which prides itself on maintaining high standards of food quality. The vast majority of Europeans do not want to eat horse meat.
Why does this matter here in the US? Because much of the horse meat in Europe comes from the United States. It is processed in Canada and Mexico, then sent to those European markets where it is legal to sell them…and obviously being slipped in where they are not to be sold as well. ~ HfH
No horse meat
No horse meat…. or is there?
All 28 European Union member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland submitted samples of beef products between April and July 2014. Of the 2,622 tests carried out, 16 revealed positive traces of horse meat DNA. This worked out at 0.61% of the samples submitted, down from 4.6% in similar tests conducted last year.
The European Commission told FoodNavigator that it was now down to these seven member states to make use of their relevant “enforcement tools”.
Health spokesperson Aikaterini Apostola said the Commission did not have details of the different measures being taken in each member state, but said it expected “that in all cases the competent authorities are tightening up controls on the operators concerned”.
“We know that in several cases further checks and tracing back are still ongoing to determine the origin of the raw material.”
As for the meat found to be incorrectly identified as beef, it said this had been“impounded or withdrawn from the market in some cases, or relabelled to correctly reflect its composition in other cases”


Habitat for Horses is a 501.c.3 nonprofit equine protection organization supported solely by donations. We have around 200 donkeys and horses under our care, plus one ornery, old mule. Most of them are here because law enforcement removed them from their previous owner. Our ability to rehabilitate and rehome them comes from the financial support of people like you. Please support us by making a donation for the horses we all serve. 

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