Is Horse Meat Illegal?

Eating horse might be something we don’t think about as much now, but it’s easy to forget that our distant ancestors used to hunt them habitually for food.

Today, eating horse is somewhat taboo, for a few reasons.

Whether it’s because horses are better used for other things, or simply because it’s considered a cheap meat that you wouldn’t want to eat over beef or pork.

But, is eating horse meat actually illegal?

Well, I decided to look into the question.

Is horse meat illegal?

Eating horse meat in the U.S. is not outlawed by the federal government or explicitly by most states. However, selling a horse for commercial human consumption is illegal, meaning that it’s very hard to purchase horse meat to eat except from overseas. It is the sale and slaughter, not the eating, that’s illegal.

So, while it might sound almost redundant to say that eating horse meat is not illegal but selling it is, the fact is that owning horse products in the U.S. is not illegal.

You can buy horse jerky or other horse meat products to be shipped from overseas.

So, let’s break down the question in greater detail.

Why don’t we eat horse meat in the U.S.?

Horse meat is essentially considered an industrial by-product.

Horses are bred for all sorts of reasons and none of them are feeding humans.

Thus, they simply aren’t bred with human consumption in mind.

Take racehorses, for example.

At the highest levels, these horses’ diets are filled with all sorts of horse-sized doses of drugs like steroids, antiparasitics, antibiotics, sleeping medication—you name it.

Obviously, these animals are bred for performance, not taste.

So, the simple answer is that it’s become taboo because there’s never been any reason to eat it except in times of dire need.

So, in turn, eating horse meat became a symbol of destitution; why would you eat horse if you had something tastier, like pork or beef, available?

Because you were poor or had no choice.

Eating horse was less popular because horses didn’t taste as good as other animals.

Therefore, in the livestock industry, other animals won out to the point that eating horse was considered to be a sign of something negative.

But is it actually illegal?

Is eating horse meat illegal in the U.S.?

On a federal level, eating horse meat is not illegal.

Sounds simple, right?

Well, it’s a lot murkier than that in reality.

First of all, you’d need to check your own state’s laws before trying any horse product.

Some states do have bans on the possession of horsemeat, so you should check your local laws before doing anything else.

On the federal level, if it is not prohibited by state-specific laws, then eating horse meat is not illegal.

However, the commercial sale of horsemeat, for the express purpose of consumption, is illegal.

The final slaughterhouse providing horsemeat closed in 2006.

Congress stripped financing for the inspections of horse slaughter in the same year, which effectively banned the sale of the meat anywhere.

So, if you were to order some kind of non-perishable horse product from overseas, it would not be illegal to eat it.

You would not even necessarily be at fault for purchasing horsemeat from a domestic seller, but they would be for selling it to you.

So, are there places where eating horse is considered normal?

Do people eat horse?

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that there are many places which eat lots of horse.

As I said, in the U.S. it really is just a taboo more than anything else; if there are standards in place to maintain the quality of horse meat, there’s no medical or health reason not to eat it.

China is by far the largest produce of horse meat in the world, breeding over 1.5 million animals for slaughter in 2018.

The other leading countries in horse production were Kazakhstan, Mexico and Mongolia.

Very few western nations have a strong industry for horsemeat.

In many countries with a less industrialized system of food production, horses are often slaughtered as and when they are needed.

Again, in many cases, eating horse is simply a matter of what’s available, if there have been factors affecting livestock populations.

That said, there are still plenty of places where horse is eaten habitually, produced on an industrial scale, and considered a delicacy.

You just have to find the right place.

So, there is certainly a considerable taboo, at least in the west, about eating horses, but the legal validity of the practice is much more of a grey area.

You certainly can’t sell it or breed horses for meat in any state—this is against federal law. Many states do also have blanket bans on selling or possessing horsemeat.

In general, though, owning and consuming horse meat is perfectly legal, as long as you purchase from overseas, where the commercial sale is legal.