New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has asked the USDA to decline providing food safety inspections at horse processing plants that could be established in that state.

In 2007 a combination of legislation and court rulings shuttered the last remaining horse slaughter plants in the U.S. Domestic horse processing became possible again in November when Congress passed an appropriations bill restoring revenue for USDA horsemeat inspections. In December 2011 Rick De Los Santos, owner of Valley Meat Co. LLC, submitted an application requesting placement of USDA personnel to carry out horsemeat inspections at his Roswell plant.

In an April 23 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsak, Gov. Martinez asked that the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Services deny "any application that would seek to operate a horse slaughterhouse in New Mexico."

De Los Santos was unavailable for comment on the Governor’s letter