The horsemeat scandal has led to new rules aimed at ensuring racehorses do not enter the food chain.
The New rules aimed at ensuring racehorses do not enter food chain is a news article about new rules that are being put in place to ensure that horses don’t end up on the dinner table.
All domestically trained runners in the United Kingdom are affected by the new rule change.
From January, racehorses registered to compete in the United Kingdom will have to be signed out of the food chain, according to Sport.
Because to a regulation change implemented by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), horses will no longer be transported to abattoirs in return for money to be killed for food.
Transporting horses to abattoirs to be slaughtered for human food was “not an approach that we should allow in our sport” and should not be “classed as euthanasia,” according to James Given, BHA director of equine health and welfare.
Since the beginning of 2019, 4,000 former racehorses have been killed in the United Kingdom and Ireland, according to a Panorama investigation released in July. Some of the horses were previously owned and trained by important people in the business, and the majority were trained in Ireland.
According to preliminary statistics collected by racing officials, 12 percent of those murdered would have been killed in the United Kingdom.
One of the primary motivations for the regulation change, according to Given, was to ensure that all racehorses could be treated with the most suitable medicines if they were injured on the racetrack.
Certain medicines, such as the painkiller phenylbutazone, or ‘bute,’ cannot now be administered to any horse that has not been signed out of the human food chain.
Horses may still be transported to a slaughterhouse to be put down humanely as of next year, but they can no longer be sold for food.
The BHA’s veterinary committee recommended the regulation in January, but it needed to be approved by the organization’s board and rules committee, which happened last month.
It applies to all domestically trained runners in the United Kingdom, and it means that entries will be rejected if the horse has not been certified non-human consumption through the Weatherbys app and the horse’s passport.
The BHA is presently coordinating with other countries to ensure that it covers international runners.
However, a prominent welfare organization cautioned that this was not the “welfare panacea” that it seemed to be, and that individuals might still get around the restrictions via a “underground commerce.”
“There are a lot of welfare concerns [behind this],” Given told Sport. It’s a fantastic advancement, in my opinion.
“It builds on the Horse Welfare Board’s work last year in establishing euthanasia guidelines and a decision-making tree to assist individuals during a difficult time.”
“All four cornerstone stakeholder groups were contacted, and they unanimously agreed that this was the appropriate and proper thing to do, and the Panorama program, of course, emphasized its importance even more.”
“Transporting horses to a slaughterhouse to be sold for consumption should not, in my opinion, be classified as euthanasia and is not an approach that we should allow in our sport, which is why a regulation prohibiting this practice is a good step,” he said in a statement.
“I am sure that the majority of British trainers and owners agree with me and follow this concept.”
Concerns regarding the manner horses were slaughtered at one of the UK’s largest abattoirs were raised after covert recordings were made as part of the Panorama investigation.
Other concerns raised included horses being hauled hundreds of miles from Ireland, some of whom were suffering from career-threatening ailments.
“We take great care to maintain excellent welfare standards and do not tolerate any kind of animal cruelty,” Drury and Sons, the slaughterhouse, told Panorama.
“This is an exciting development, but like any reform, it needs to prevent unexpected effects,” Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfare, told Sport.
“Signing horses out of the food chain is not a welfare panacea, and the BHA will need to keep an eye on the effect of this move and intervene if required.”
“At the same time, since the slaughterhouse will no longer be an outlet, this move will emphasize the need of lifelong accountability and traceability for all former racehorses.”
“And until there is a strong digital equine identity system in place, there is still a danger that some racehorses may be illegally introduced into the food chain, which we know poses significant concerns to equine welfare.”
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