Dutch animal welfare organisation Wakker Dier is calling on Dutch snack producers to stop importing horsemeat from Latin America. During an undercover investigation in Latin American the group discovered that horses destined for consumption in the Netherlands are often badly maltreated.

Wakker Dier asked a British investigative agency to examine the Latin American horsemeat industry after receiving alarming reports. The investigators, passing themselves off as potential buyers, discovered that many Latin American horses bound for consumption in Europe are often emaciated, underfed, and maltreated during transport.

“As soon as the horses are unable to function as work animals they hardly receive any food anymore, ”Wakker Dier spokesperson Sjoerd van der Wouw told the Dutch freesheet Spits. A video made by the investigative agency shows emaciated and injured horses in overcrowded trailers. Some of these horses, forced to endure long journeys in tropical heat with a scarce supply of water and food, are so fatigued that they are unable to stand.

Many popular Dutch deep fried snacks are made of remnant meat. “Because the animals are so emaciated, the quality of the meat is often so poor that it can only be used in snacks,” Mr van der Wouw explains. The Netherlands imports around 11 million kilograms of horsemeat a year, most of it imported from Latin America.

Beckers, one of the largest snack producing companies in the Netherlands, say they have always received reports from import companies guaranteeing compliance with EU animal welfare standards. “We should thoroughly investigate whether Wakker Dier has stumbled upon a number of incidents, or whether this is a problem of a more structural nature,” their spokesperson said.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide