The AGM of the European Horse Network (EHN) took place on October 19, 2016 and the main intention was to prepare for an EU Equine Conference in the European Parliament. These conferences aim on getting the horse industry on the agenda of members of parliament (MEP).
One of the issues in those conferences is the place equines take in the economical perspective of the EU. In certain rules and regulations they are considered to be livestock, fitting in agricultural rules, in other rules as consumer goods. The aim is to get them into their own category.
Another item in the AGM was ‘horses and the food chain’. Following EU rules, the owner of a horse can decide to register a horse as taken out of the food chain. It is a simple action; in some countries it is already registered in a central database. This means that you are free to feed and apply medication without consequences in terms of health issues in the food chain. When a horse is slaughtered, it is required to check if it is taken out of the food chain or not. At that moment, extra costs might be involved in order to get the horse slaughtered. The proposal is to allow horses after a certain period to be taken into the food chain again and use them for meat production. One of the issues that may rise from this is how this is registered in those countries where WorldFengur is the only registration base for Icelandic horses. In other countries a connection between WF and the national database might be required to get proper registration.
European Horse Network (EHN) – General Assembly
