Horse’s heart for pet meat

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 19

Horse’s heart for pet meat

PA Wellington A Wairarapa butcher has been cleared on charges of trying to sell a horse’s heart for human consumption. Maurice Irvine McNabb, of Featherston’s Central Butchery, denied possessing and exposing for sale, for human consumption, meat from stock which had not been slaughtered in a licensed abattoir or export slaughter-house. Judge Kearney dismissed the charges in the District Court at Wellington, saying McNabb had satisfied him that the meat was intended for other than human consumption. Judge Kearney said, however, McNabb was unwise to display the hearts where somebody might have bought one unwittingly

without being aware they were meant to be eaten by animals. lan Graham Ellis, a Ministry of Agriculture veterinarian, said that when he went to the butchery on January 7 last year, the Ministry was concerned about the level of farmkilled meat in Wairarapa. “In light of the Australian meat scandal, the Ministry felt it was important we should look at the level of control that existed in those butchers’ shops with respect to farm-killed meat.” The Court heard that the heart and three smaller hearts were in a white plastic tray in a display cabinet on top of the counter. McNabb said the hearts were intended for pet food.