Wrongful slaughter claims denied
High Peak Meat Exports (HPME), the company that runs the UK's Red Lion abattoir, has denied that it allowed horses doped with painkillers to be slaughtered under false passports.
In early March, a man claimed he and others gave unsound horses cortisone injections, bute and false microchips before transporting them to the abattoir based in Cheshire.
A news report revealing the claims, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland, did not declare whether the horses had been accepted at Red Lion. It did, however, seemingly imply that unsuitable equines are being slaughtered for consumption in the UK.
According to a spokesperson, HPME is now considering legal action.
"No horses are slaughtered [at Red Lion] without full Food Standards Agency veterinary supervision and without ante-mortem health checks and post-mortem checks being applied," said the spokesperson.
Also speaking on behalf of HPMA, barrister Stephen Lomax explained that every horse is checked against its passport by both HPMA and a Food Standards Agency (FSA) representative before slaughter at Red Lion.
He added that subsequently, hundreds of horses are turned away from the abattoir every year.
"All the passports were believed genuine by the FSA at the time of slaughter," he said.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
