Should Food Network Canada pull the episode?

23 Comments

  • nike blazer suede vintage - 10 years ago

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  • donna timmerman - 13 years ago

    Gomerlu I agree with you a 100% that these people need to see what happens in a slaughter house!!! as far as what is wrong with this planet? well it needs an enema I have a feeling it is going to happen alot sooner than people think...cruelety to humans and animals, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsusamis, fires and flooding etc. etc. etc. take note people we are getting a wake up call....humans have destroyed the earth and we have been left with a sick and barbaric planet.....watch what is happening in the world, take heed and WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

  • gomerlu - 13 years ago

    I cannot get over the fact that almost 50% have voted that is normal and fine to slaughter horses for human consumption, what's is wrong with this planet? Isn't enough that we kill cattle and sheep and swine and fowl to fulfill our disgusting notion that we need to eat meat to survive. I guess pretty soon we'll be joining the dog market for meat consumption since this is a normal practice in some countries. Maybe those who agree that there's nothing wrong with horse consumption should take a tour of a slaughter house and maybe develop some compassion.

  • Cat - 13 years ago

    @Vicki - Ditto that!!

  • Vicki - 13 years ago

    Humans do not need to eat animals, period. It's unhealthy, unethical, and environmentally degrading. Why contribute to the confinement, pain, and torturous death of innocent creatures with which we humans share so many qualities, when it's totally unnecessary? Plant-based nutrition is the way to go! And the food is AWESOME if you know how to do it! Don't let anyone tell you different.

  • Matt - 13 years ago

    I couldn't agree more with what Kylie said. You better be a vegan if you disagree with eating horse, if not why is it OK to eat some animals and not others? This is a non-issue in my eyes.

  • Janet Ferguson - 13 years ago

    My comment above should read ..."by closing foreign-owned horse slaughtering plants in the US."

  • Janet Ferguson - 13 years ago

    Mike, "an incredible amount of horses dying of starvation?" Where?

    And there are still slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada, whereto tens of thousands of horses are trucked out of auctions all over this country. The slaughter option is still there -- for anyone who will take their horse to an auction in this country, there will be found 'kill buyers' who appear, with Mom and the kids, just like the guy next door.

    These pets, having received a lifetime of vet drugs, now are sent to a horrific death. We are not wasting a precious food resource or causing mass starvation and death here in US from closing foreign horse slaughtering plants.

  • Jennenny - 13 years ago

    I think it's kind of hypocritical to only be against eating *certain* animals. It's not as if horses are endangered species or somehow more capable of feeling pain than chickens, cows, etc. If you're supposedly against eating horse meat on moral grounds, shouldn't you be against eating all animals, not just the ones that happen to be "cuter"/more "useful"?
    I'm not trying to argue whether or not it's ethical to eat meat - that's everyone's personal choice. I'm just saying it doesn't make any logical or ethical sense to pick favorites. No one got this enraged when they cooked frogs' legs or snails, which we also don't usually eat in North America.

  • Christie Finn - 13 years ago

    The article above paid little attention to the main reason that the Food Network should not air this episode. Equines are treated, sometimes daily, sometimes several times a day, for months with chemicals that are toxic to humans or other life. Horse meat has not been used in dog food for at least two decades because it was harmful to dogs. Yes, we know horse meat is consumed in countries such as Japan, China, France and several other countries. However, I seriously doubt if the populations of these countries have any idea just how tainted horse meat is. Only yesterday, I put two fly and insect repellents on both my horses. One was a salve and the other was a spray. Both were labeled not for use on animals to be consumed be humans. One had special instructions on how to dispose of the jar itnis toxic to fish, and could contaminate streams and other water sources. In addition to the insect repellent, I used some gel on a small areas of skin fungus that appear this time of year. I use a gel to come out my horses' manes and tails. I have several other types of disinfectants, salves, and other treatments for wounds. Horses play roughly with one another. They get excited, and sometimes they get hurt. They need a variety of options for cleaning and disinfecting. Wounds that do not heal quickly need antibiotics. Every horse on a farm is treated for parasites (referred to as being worked or de-worked about every 6 weeks. Thinking on this is evolving, but is common practice because parasites in horses are nothing but misery. When you get to what drugs and supplements in addition to vaccines that horses take regularly in addition to drugs like bute which is used as an anti-inflammatory, the average roasted leg of eqidae is full of substances that are known to be harmful to humans.

    Perhaps the Food Network feels it is under no obligation to promote healthy food for their fellow man to eat. However, to those of you who were fed horse meat in some distant country, that meat waa likely tainted as well. Perhaps one of the reasons horse meat is more difficult to come by in France is that the EU has banned horse meat from the United States because there are rarely any papers with the horses explaining where they have come from. So, simply out of a concern for the health of their audience, and the scant attention that was given even in the CNN article with regard to range of chemicals given routinely to horses, by airing this segment the Food Network is telling the potential consumer that horse is safe to eat, and that simply defies logic.

    As to the question, a very good question, about how or why it is any worse to consume horse meat than beef, pork, lamb, mutton, venison, chicken, turkey, duck, grouse or fish. I will not get into the quality of life each ofmthese animals experience as they are raised to become food animals. Nor will I go into some of the absolutely ghastly ways these animals die. Read Dr. Temple Grandin's Animal Make Us Human for a thorough accounting. As far as actually killing the horse, so that the butcher's can start their work, horses are first stunned. But stunning must be combined with another method for death to occur. Because a horse is a flighty animals to begin with, once he smells the first whiff of blood, he goes into a panic. A horse in a panic is moving constantly, so it is very hard to get the horse properly stunned. Imagine waking up on a meat hook as you bleed out only to realize you are being skinned alive. This is the kind of thing that happens at Mexican and Canadian slaughter plants. They are foreign owned and run by cartels. These cartels control where and to whom horse meat is sold, and I doubt just a little anyone is too concerned that these uninformed consumers are going to eat meat full of toxins. The slaughter of any animal is important to that animal, but other animals can be killed instantaneously where horses are not. Unless you'd prefer denial, visit You T

  • C. H. - 13 years ago

    98% of horse meat is toxic to humans. The Food Network hasn't done their homework or checked their facts! See Letter to sponsors of the Food Network and Top Chef by Simone Netherlands, Reporter for the Meet America Series and founder of Respect4Horses Organization,

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Top-Chef-Protect-the-Horses/182296598489582?sk=wall#!/notes/simone-netherlands/letter-to-sponsors-of-the-food-network-and-top-chef/209719009061248

  • Nancy - 13 years ago

    I own and ride horses. I will not knowingly eat horse meat. For me, my horse is my partner. However, that being said, there are unfortunately people out there who own horses who can no longer afford to look after them and can not find someone to buy them or to give them too where they will get proper care. These same people who can not afford to care for their horses anymore likely can not afford to have them humanely euthanized and then the body disposed of in a legal and proper way. So let your horse starve to death causing severe anxiety and pain, or allow the horse to be processed for human consumption? I would rather see a horse processed for human consumption than standing in a field starving and suffering.

  • ted striker - 13 years ago

    Most of the comments seem to be right on. The is nothing exceptionally special about a horse over a pig or a cow. Who is willing to argue that the US is more babaric than India, because in India the eating of cow meat is taboo? Get over it people, most humans are meet eaters. Horses aren't an endangered species so chow down, and stop acting likely holier than thou hypocrits.

  • killahorse? - 13 years ago

    When Americans dont have an issue eating a cow why should they care about somebody eating a horse.

  • Greg - 13 years ago

    What is the difference? Eating one animal's flesh as opposed to another? Some of us think nothing of eating a cow or a chicken or a fish, but somehow horses get elevated above others.

    I certainly can understand rebelling against calling a horse an "invasive specie" and justifying consuming them for that reason, and it we use that logic, humans are an invasive specie too.

    I've travelled to many Asian countries and the animal flesh consumed there, including cats, dogs, monkeys and ALL parts of these animals makes me crave a fresh, cold, crisp salad any day.

  • Mike - 13 years ago

    People who are concerned with eating horse meat because of ethical reasons should take a long look at alternatives. Horse slaughter plants are nearly (or completely) nonexistent in the U.S. at this time and as a result there is an incredible amount of horses suffering and dying from starvation. With feed for large animals at such high prices many horses end up dying of starvation because there is no alternative to their owners who can no longer afford them.

  • JT - 13 years ago

    I cannot believe this is an issue. The real discussion should be whether we consume meat or not. I object to eating horses because I object to eating meat, period. But it doesn't offend me any more or less than eating cows or pigs. Quibbling over where the meat comes from is picking nits. But as long as we're eating meat in this society (or any other), we should be consistent. Do we only eat meat from animals that are unattractive? Who decides what's attractive? Do we only eat dumb animals? Then maybe we shouldn't eat pigs since they're as smart as dogs (smarter than many breeds, in fact).

  • Kylie - 13 years ago

    Honestly, if anyone has a problem with this based on "moral grounds" then I sincerely hope they are a vegan. No one takes into consideration that fish, chickens, cows etc. are slaughtered inhumanely every single day... people turn a blind eye because it is "normal" for Canada and the US to consume those meats on a daily basis. The whole point of the Food Network is to expose people to all sorts of dishes, and that includes international cuisine. Let them air their episode. If you have that much of a problem with it, don't watch it.

    And now, the French, and other countries who consume this meat are being judged as "inhumane" and "weird"... and, yet, no one judges the Western countries on how we abuse animals every day?

    It seems this world will never move past the point of judging people because they are different.

  • Velma Johnson - 13 years ago

    Foodnetwork get your facts right...horsemeat is becoming harder and harder to find in France.
    an excerpt from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/12/15/us-horse-meat-idUSTRE5BE52420091215

    "Consumption of horse meat has fallen 12 percent in the last two years and currently makes up less than 1 percent of all meat consumed in France, the ministry said in a report.
    And while only a few years ago horse meat was relatively easy to find, now it takes more time to track it down.
    "Horse is indeed a French dish, but you'd be very hard-pressed to find it in any restaurants now," said the chef at restaurant Le Central in Paris, adding: "There's so much publicity against it."
    Accounts vary on how France first took to eating equines.
    Some historians say the country's appetite for horse meat dates from the Battle of Eylau in 1807, when the chief surgeon of Napoleon's army advised famished soldiers to feast on fallen horses on the battlefield.
    The story adds that the cavalry cooked the trusted steeds using their breastplates as cooking pans."

  • Terri - 13 years ago

    The show can do as they like just as I can. I will no longer watch Food Network (US or Canada) whether they show it or not, they already filmed it, showing it wouldn't make or break my decision just knowing they filmed it has already done so. There are plenty of other channels to watch, who needs them.

  • Tabitha - 13 years ago

    I don't think it's write by any means, to send horses on the slaughter truck because they 'are not fit' to run the track anymore. All this world has to realize that you have to work hard, and the world will be so much better.. work to find these poor animals a loving home. You don't know how many people would be willing to take in these innocent animals. Not to mention all the bute, and chemicals put into the poor race horses what it is doing to the humans body who could handle the guilt of eating one of these animals. I don't understand how people can just sit and watch horse slaughter like it's nothing. I am a proud equestrian and I WILL stand up for the horses world-wide.

  • Tony - 13 years ago

    I cannot understand why anyone would worry about another eating horse, dog, or cat. I was stationed in Honduras where I ate horse. I have also been stationed in places that eat cat and dog. It different but good. I am a normal American and I don't care what you eat. PS try raccoon & possum

  • Jennifer Spencer - 13 years ago

    I don't know why there is even this argument about whether to eat horses or not. Even though there has been history to support that populations have eaten horse, it doesn't make it right to do so today in more culturally developed countries like the US. Given underdeveloped countries might choose to eat horsemeat if available if cow meat is not, it is understandable, like African tribes eating and selling "bush meat".

    For developed countries like France to eat horsemeat is rather vulgar considering that they breed race horses and horses for show, work, and as pets, etc. The French are real dog lovers and don't eat their dogs (as far as I know), so eating horsemeat just doesn't compute. Then again, the French have this "food thing" about being different and special....and maybe a little outrageous. Still no reason for a country like France to put horse on the menu.

    Besides, the cost of raising a horse for meat versus a cow is considerably more, why would anyone want to market horsemeat? There again it goes back to the outrageous "Food Thing" that countries like France like to promote. Draws attention to the culinary and epicurean superiority... like the Food Network trying to achieve. Look at the press they are getting.

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