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Horse Meat Is A Great Substitute For Popular Meats

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Pros With increasing obesity rates across the globe, the demand for health-conscious foods is higher than ever. Horse meat is a great substitute for popular meats that are socially accepted today. Horse meat is characterized as a red meat like beef, pork, sheep, and goat. While horse meat is like beef in appearance, it has more protein and vitamins, and a less fat percentage. Horse meat is also calorically lower than beef, veal, pork, lamb, and sheep, making it ideal for the rising concern in the United States about a healthy food supply (Stanciu, 2015). If eventually socially acceptable, horse meat could be the next big fad on the markets.
While horse slaughter was deemed illegal in the United States in 2006, it still happens in the …show more content…

Brazil economically capitalized on the export market by shipping over two thousand tons of horse meat to its most extensive market, the European Union, in 2011 alone. The total value of Brazil’s horse meat export that year was equivalent to almost seven-million dollars. With a struggling economy in Brazil, the value of horse meat exports provided the necessary boost. In 2012, Brazil’s total horse count added up to almost five hundred and fifty million horses (“Horsemeat production in South America,” 2014). With a plethora of available horses, one can see that even though horse slaughter is implemented in Brazil, the total horse population is hardly affected as horses are still widespread throughout the country.
Another troubling aspect is the environmental problems that could come about due to improper carcass disposal of dead horses. The halt of horse slaughter in the United States has caused the sudden need to dispose of millions of bodies of horses which is bound to create a plethora of environmental problems such as soil contamination (“Horse slaughter bill making waves,” 2004). Horse slaughter provided owners with old or injured horses the ability to rid of them for an eventual product. Common disposal practices like burial could provide problems while the body decomposes, and eventually affect the water supply.
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