Protesters from the Canadian Horse Defence Coalition paced back and forth in front of La Palette on Monday, holding signs that read “Stable to Table in One Week” and “Pet & Athlete Not Food.” The dozen or so activists were protesting the restaurant’s decision to return horsemeat to its menu earlier this month.
Holding placards and handing out leaflets, the protesters did their best to let passersby know that La Palette had resumed selling its horsemeat dishes after a seven-month hiatus prompted by concerns over the safety of meat from imported horses. Though the protesters were dedicated, reaction from the public was muted, with most people seeming more concerned with Family Day than debating horsemeat.
La Palette had originally removed horse from its menu in August 2011, after a Toronto Star investigation claimed that some of the horsemeat sold in Canada was coming from potentially contaminated animals imported from the US, where the government had stopped allotting funds for inspections of plants providing horsemeat for human consumption.
According to Marie Dean, protest organizer and coalition member, the biggest concern over horses from the US is that their meat may contain a drug called phenylbutazone (more regularly known as bute), an anti-inflammatory and painkiller.
“I’ve given bute to my own horses,” she said. “But if I choose to sell [my horses], I don’t have to put that on record because it’s such a common drug.”
“Horses are a cut above other animals,” she continued. “They are not raised for human consumption. They serve our society. Policemen ride them. They’ve gone to war for us and now they help our handicapped.”
Though he could not be immediately reached for comment, owner Shamez Amlani has long maintained that he is not ethically opposed to the consumption of horsemeat. Earlier this year he told Post City that he had stopped serving horse for safety reasons, choosing to err on the side of caution. He’s now confident that the meat he’s serving is safe.
“We’ve spoken at length with officials here in Ontario who do the testing,” he said. “We’ve spent the past six months doing as much research as we can. We’re very certain that we’ll be serving our customers high-quality meat.”
