Beginning July 31, 2010, all horses slaughtered for human consumption in Canada must arrive at the slaughterhouse with an Equine Information Document according to a new mandate from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The EID will positively identify the horse with a photo and a description and will also contain a record of medications administered to the horse for at least the previous six months. The owner must sign off on this document.
This means horses that have received common drugs such as phenylbutazone won’t be eligible for slaughter.
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This rule applies to all horses slaughtered for human consumption in Canada including those shipped in from the United States.
Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t require this kind of documentation on horses in the United States, it may mean U.S. horses will no longer be shipped to Canada for slaughter. Currently, there are no horse slaughterhouses operating in the United States.
According to the CFIA, these new requirements are only the first step towards strengthening Canada’s food safety and traceability system for equines.
