HORSEFLESH AS FOOD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 136, 8 June 1907, Page 10

HORSEFLESH AS FOOD.

SOME FACTS AEOTT IT AND A DEFENCE FROM UELGIUM. What bee-eitueti of many of England's horses is explained from Brussels, where the Minister of Agriculture has addressed a communication to tlie. municipality of Antwerp requesting them to take measures to pnt a steep to the abuses resulting from the importation of old and worn-out horses from England. These animals, the communication states, are killed in Belgium and turned into sausages, which are then labelled aud sold as "best brand" eausages. '•The Tribune's" Brussels correspoudeut gives an explanation aud defence of the use of horse meat. He says there is no doubt much ignorant prejudice lv the common objection to horseflesh as an article of human fooel. A hardier or more robust race can scarcely be fe>und in all Europe than the- Flemings of the low cotmlr'es; yet thousands of these people never tisre any other flesh food fhan horseflesh. Tne regulations for the importation, preparatrd. and sui'- of tlie tame are very severe. r.t<\ a cunrietion against a horse butcher is to-day almost unknown. It is forbidden in Belgium to offer for sale the flesh ot an snlirtal which has tiled of any disease Whatever, flic horse joints"which one sees ,in the "ou!clips' shops in Brussels are, iv s.e far ns they emanate from Belgian CM-ses, taken from animals which have hart t" be destroyed as the result of an acritient. or wh'.u. while r.ot suffering frrnu any specific dlseasp, considered tnrt nlrt or too weak to go ou working. There are also heavy penalties attaching to Hi' f■'.!•* of horse meat on premises where auy e.ihei- kind ol me.-it. is sold. Lastly, horses are iiifpcr-teel at the public slaughter houses before he>ing pole-axed, while every butcher's premises are liable to receive surprise visits from the emissaries of the Government, or, incidentally, of the municipal authorities. ' AS A POOR MAN'S FOOD, horseflesh easily beats bull beef. Prices In this, as iv most commodities, vary considerably, but year In, 'year out, and striking an approximate average of the prices ruling in ail the horse butchers' shops in, for example, the city of Brussels, it may b.? safely asserted that one need never pay for horseflesh more than a penny, or. at the very utmost, lid, above half the price a pemnd of the corresponding part of ox m eat. It would appejar from certain information ! kindly supplied to mc by Mr Baerts, chief veterinary inspector of thii- Belgian Government, that a very considerable trade In j horses is done with England. During the nine years from 1807 to 1006 no fewer than IPO.OiiO horses were; imported from England Into Belgium for the purpose of being sold as human food. As soon as a boat containing these "butchers' horses" arrives in port, the master has to report to the har- : hour authorities how many horses he has on board. As the animals arc disembarked, evidence has to be prottneed that they will be taken dire.-e.-t to a public slaughterhonsc for iminetliatc killing, or to a private stable, where th . must be destroyed within a week. Upon this evidence the horses are duly marked or branded for importation by means of a metal plate attached to their neck. The Government veterinary surgeon also hat'ds to the purchaser of the animal a permit which has to be given up to and signed by the Mayor of the place where the animal is slaughtered within a week of the arrival. The Mayor at once sends the said permit to the veterinary expert, whose duty it is to inspect the meat and organs emanating from the slaughtered animal. Both the metal plate and the certificate of slaughter have to be scut by the Mayor to the veterinary surgeon who granted the original import certificate at the port of arrival within ten days of the date stamped on the last-named document. It does, however, sometimes happen that an imported horse is NOT KILLED AT ALL, but in order to attain this desideratum the purchaser has to submit the horse to what is known as the "malleine test," which consists in the injection of a small quantity of the- fluid called mallcitie into the animal's n<*-„. The object ii to ascertain whether the horse is suffering from glanders. If oa the day following the inoculation the animal exhibits no abnormal symploms, it Is considered tit for work, otherwise the afltimal 1b destroyed by the authorities, mid the purchaser has no right to auy compensation whatever. The average pi-ice paid at the Antwerp quarantine elepot — which is the recognised market for such transactions—does not vary to the extent of more than a sovereign or two, and the following fig-„re_3 may be taken :is reliable bases:—Fat horses, £10; ordiuary horses (ponies excepted), average price. £5 12/; lean horses, £">. The retail prices for horseflesh are—lo within a penny or so—as follows:—Best parts and superior quality meat, od to 6d a pound; inferior quality and poor parts, 3_d to 4.d a pound.

A largo trade, both home and export, is done in preserved horseflesh. Horse sausage is dimpled with pieces of fat. and is redder than the other "bags of mystery," but it is decidedly palatable, and the popular salammi, which forms almost a staple food of many Swiss and Italian peasants, is nothing else Gian horseflesh.