Tag: Veterinary drugs

While roughly 775,000 tonnes of horse meat were produced globally in 2022, primarily in countries like China and Kazakhstan, its consumption remains taboo in many parts of the world. The reasons behind the question, "Why does no one eat horse meat?" are a complex tapestry of historical events, cultural traditions, modern ethical viewpoints, and health concerns.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the presence of drug residues in food of animal origin can pose significant health risks to consumers. An antibiotic residue is a trace amount of an antibiotic or its metabolites that remains in edible products like meat, milk, and eggs after an animal has been treated with the medication.

According to the FAO, 86% of livestock feed is made from materials not edible to humans, and for very critical safety reasons. The simple and direct answer to whether animal feed is edible for humans is a firm no, as doing so poses significant and sometimes life-threatening risks.

In 2016, a review of data from the National Milk Drug Residue Database showed that less than 2 out of every 10,000 tanker trucks of milk tested positive for antibiotic residues, highlighting the rarity of such contamination in the commercial supply. Nonetheless, it's crucial to understand what antibiotics are found in milk, the underlying causes, and the systems in place to ensure safety.

According to one estimate, approximately two-thirds of American beef cattle are implanted with growth-promoting hormones to boost production efficiency. This practice is a major point of contention, highlighting the significant global divide on which countries use growth hormones in cattle and the regulatory standards applied to animal agriculture.

In many Western cultures, the idea of eating horse meat is met with strong revulsion, a sentiment shaped by a multitude of factors beyond just taste. There are serious health risks, particularly concerning veterinary drugs like phenylbutazone, which are not approved for the human food chain and are widely used in horses. This makes understanding why you should not eat horse meat a critical health and ethical issue.