Royal Responds to Horse Meat Scandal

Princess Anne, a former British equestrian champion, has commented that if horse owners were able to profit from the meat after the death of their animals they may be inclined to take better care of them during their lifetime.

At the World Horse Welfare Organisation, the royal said, “Our attitudes to the horsemeat trade and the value of horsemeat may have to change. Should we be considering a real market for horsemeat and would that reduce the number of welfare cases if there was a real value in the horsemeat sector?”

In French butchers, a fillet of horsemeat is often the most expensive cut of meat, and Princess Anne made the point that the scandal was not a result of anger at having eaten horse meat, but of incorrect labelling. She said, “Arguably, our response to the horsemeat scandal was that that was food that was improperly marked, not that it had horsemeat in it, and if that you’d put the proper label on it and put it back on the shelves, that would have been the proper answer for everybody.”

The comment comes after charities announce a horse welfare crisis, and new regulations are being put into place to make provenance and nutritional information clearer on food labels.