Horse meat
From AlexBrownRacing
There is a lot of evidence to suggest that horse slaughter is a demand-based business, rather than a business that serves simply to dispose of excess horses from the horse industry (Sensible debate over unwanted horses would help anti-slaughter lobby and A Study of Equine Slaughter/ Abuse Patterns Following Closure of Horse Slaughter Plants in US). The demand for American horses principally comes from parts of Europe and Asia.
Horse meat is not consumed in the United States at any significant level. This is mostly cultural, but it's sale for human consumption is banned in California.
There is very limited demand for horse meat in Canada. That demand considers horse meat a healthy alternative to other meats.
In Mexico horse meat is consumed as a cheaper substitute for other meats.
In Europe horse meat is, like Canada, considered a healthy alternative to other meats.
Live horses are shipped to Japan as it is important to eat the horse meat within a few days of the kill.
All horses that were not bred for slaughter, which are the overwhelming majority from the US (there are unconfirmed reports of horses bred for slaughter in the mid west), have been administered drugs. Depending on when those drugs were most recently administered, they could render their meat unfit for human consumption. The EU recently initiated a plan to ensure the meat from the horses they slaughter is fit for human consumption: Microchipping to be compulsory for all EU horses
Discussions
It would be good to add discussions that illustrate genuine buyers being shut out by kill buyers when wanting to buy horses.
