Hello Mark,

Printed trays imitating a gingham fabric that evokes French tradition and Sunday picnics: this is the packaging frequently used in supermarkets to market horse meat.

But behind the packaging, we are far from the French art of living. Most of the time, the meat marketed comes from the New World, including Argentina, Canada and Uruguay.

Several surveys conducted since 2021 by Animal Welfare Foundation/Tierschutzbund Zürich (AWF/TSB) with the support of Welfarm have shed light on the conditions of horse slaughter in Uruguay.

Beaten, emaciated, injured, sometimes seriously, left without care in the pastures, horses slaughtered in Uruguay are regularly kept in slaughterhouses in deplorable conditions before being killed: lack of water, food, care, access to shade and shelter against bad weather….

Hidden abuses during the audits of European inspectors, whose visits are always announced in advance, found AWF / TSB: animals present in good physical condition, distribution of fodder …

The latest survey of the association proves the ineffectiveness of these audits to detect the real conditions of detention of horses on a daily basis:

Investigation: bogus horse meat audits in Uruguay on Vimeo

These animals are not bred for human consumption: they can be culled draft horses, mares from blood farms, racehorses too old for competition, etc.

In France, a lucrative market for SNVC

Société Normande de Viandes et Courtages (SAS SNVC), based in Toutainville, Eure, markets horse meat from the Clay slaughterhouse, imported by the meat import-export company P. Harinordoquy & fils, based in Bordeaux. However, the Clay slaughterhouse and the two French companies are all owned by French entrepreneur Yon Harinordoquy. The Harinordoquy Group therefore controls the entire sector, from slaughter in Uruguay to the plate of the French consumer.

AWF/TSB’s Uruguay survey was conducted in the country’s three slaughterhouses approved by the European Union: Sarel, El Amanecer and… Clay, the slaughterhouse owned by the Harinordoquy Group. SNCV, which markets horse meat from that slaughterhouse in France, can therefore only be aware of the conditions of detention and slaughter of horses on the Uruguayan site.

Welfarm is calling on the European level to ban imports of horse meat from states that do not respect high standards of animal protection in slaughterhouses.

Several media, such as Libération, Loopsider or Vakita have already taken up this subject today. To allow us to continue to disseminate these surveys in France and to challenge professionals and political decision-makers, you can support us with a tax-free donation.

Thank you for your support,

WELFARM.

Welfarm – Association whose mission is recognized as a public utility, WELFARM works for a better consideration of the well-being of animals, at all stages of their life (breeding, transport, slaughter).

Regards Mark