Children are unlikely to have been eating pet ponies in burgers contaminated with horsemeat, researchers say today.
Producers of horse meat – which is used legally for pet-food – seek out larger animals, according to the study.
Research published in the latest edition of Veterinary Record showed that buyers want larger size animals to obtain the maximum meat yield.
Researchers from Si Ma Bô Associazione, Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde, Africa, and the Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, England, carried out their research following by public concerns over the possibility that pet horses and donkeys and unwanted thoroughbred racehorses were being slaughtered for meat.
They selected at random seven auction markets in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Wales (Powys), Berkshire and Cheshire, to see which animals had been put up for sale in August and September 2011.
All the markets traded equines only, but all types, breed and age.
The authors examined 384 animals, which included a broad range of cross breeds, thoroughbreds, and ponies, and found out the destination of the 294 that were sold. Ninety were either withdrawn from sale or did not achieve their reserve price.
Sixty-eight were bought on behalf of the three main horse abattoirs in Britain in 2011, while 226 were bought by other types of buyer.
Almost half of the horses and ponies put up for sale were geldings (42%), followed by mares (30%), fillies (16%), colts (10%), and stallions (2%). Height varied from 9 to 17 hands while age ranged from under 12 months to 21 years.
Animals destined for the meat trade were about 2.5 times as likely to be larger than those bought by other outlets. Horsemeat buyers did not buy ponies and cross breeds but chose thoroughbreds and riding horses (43%).
Dealers buying on behalf of abattoirs were twice as likely to purchase animals that had some physical abnormality, including flesh wounds, burn injuries, bruises, swellings, bleeding, discharge, hair loss, or deformity, as those buying for other outlets (26% compared with 13%). And 16% of the animals destined for an abattoir were lame.
“Equine buyers supplying horse abattoirs in Great Britain had a preference for purchasing larger animals and they avoided buying ponies,” write the authors. “This is thought to reflect a preference for animals which provide a maximum meat yield from the carcase to cover the cost of transport, slaughter, and dressing.”
They add: “A relatively small proportion of unwanted ponies and small horses were destined for the meat trade. In general, the findings from this study did not support the view that the abattoir industry focused on profiting from the slaughter of pet ponies.”
Bell Y et al. Procurement of equines for the horsemeat trade in Great Britain. Veterinary Record (2013) doi: 10.1136/vr.101636. [abstract]
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