Here’s a topic you won’t see in the food magazines — horsemeat. Chef’s love it, animals lovers balk at the idea and the Japanese want us to ship more.

But this $60-million industry has virtually no regulations and generates a lot of controversy.

To set the record straight, Cuisine Canada’s intrepid Dana McCauley did a lot of digging. In her article Behind the Barn Door: The Hidden Facts about Canada’s Horsemeat Industry, McCauley logs dozens of hours talking to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, meat specialists, the Horse Welfare Alliance of Canada and a horsemeat rancher who asked not to be named.
Amongst McCauley’s conclusions, she writes, “I’ve developed a strong opinion about what’s wrong with the Canadian horsemeat business, too. It isn’t how it’s regulated or that it’s cruel to kill and eat such pretty animals, but that the rules currently allow packers to put poor quality meat with a Canadian stamp on it into the international food system.”

It’s a fascinating read on a topic few will touch.  Even if you’ll never eat horsemeat, food professionals will find this article useful, eye-opening and thought provoking.

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Photo © Wolfgang Staudt. Published under a Creative Commons License.