Animal rights groups and U.S. residents living near three horsemeat processing plants jointly filed suit against the USDA on Feb. 13, less than a week after USDA announced a program to allow fee-for-service inspections of horses at slaughter plants. The Appropriations Bill eliminated funding of USDA inspectors at these plants. The groups allege that allowing fee-based inspections for horsemeat goes against the Congressional intent of the Appropriations bill, which they said was intended to end horse slaughter in the United States. They filed the lawsuit in the Washington, D.C., U.S. District Court. For more information the USDA’s proposed fee-for-service program see https://thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=6599.

“The USDA’s subversion of the law to appease the economically marginal and widely reviled horse slaughter industry is a blatant abuse of executive power, a violation of federal law, and an insult to the American people,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States