Tv cook suspended for cat recipe
Beppe Bigazzi, one of the presenters of the daytime TV show, “La Prova del Cuoco” [“The Cook’s Challenge”] was suspended on Monday for explaining on the show how cat meat used to be cooked in Italy.
Bigazzi, who has written several cookery books and champions local food traditions, says that he was only trying to give viewers an insight into the ways of the past. In his home area of the Valdarno everyone ate cat meat instead of rabbit in the 1950s and 1960s, he says, especially at this time of year. Bigazzi quotes the proverb,
“A berlingaccio chi non ha ciccia ammazza il gatto” - “On Fat Thursday [the Thursday before the end of Carnival] people who don’t have meat kill the cat.”
The following video shows Bigazzi describing how to cook cats:
Italy’s Rai uno received thousands of protests immediately after the programme and Francesca Martini, the Under-Secretary for Labour and Health, has said that Bigazzi could be jailed for up to eighteen month for encouraging cruelty to animals. She has pointed out that cooking cat meat is also illegal for health and safety reasons and has called Bigazzi’s actions shameful.
Meanwhile Enpa, the Italian Federation for the Protection of Animals, has welcomed the television channel’s prompt action.
It is estimated that 7.5 million cats are kept as pets in Italy. World Cat Day is on February 17th.
Francesca Martini is also prominent in a campaign to ban the sale and consumption of horsemeat in Italy. She has recently introduced a bill to “respect the dignity of the horse”. She has the backing of Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia, who says that horses should be protected in the same way as cats and dogs. People back in Mr Zaia’s home region of the Veneto, though, are not happy about this, as horsemeat is regarded as a delicacy there.
Italy’s national consumption of horsemeat is 48,000 metric tonnes a year, making it the largest in Europe. The country imports horses from Poland and Eastern Europe for culinary purposes.
Do you think Rai uno were right to suspend Mr Bigazzi?
Are you in favour of a ban on horsemeat?
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Horse Meat
We in the US have been battling with Idiots that follow the all mighty buck. Saying horse slaughter is humane yet ignore the truth that irresponsible people are getting paid for there crimes. Horse slaughter merely promotes abuse, neglect and profits for criminals. As one elected official said ( Why are you worried about the drugs in horse meat American people aren't eating it.. Its going to other countries) This told me most pro slaughter are in it for the kick backs from the Cattle industries and the Over breeder Associations that promote breeding for profits and any unsold high pricey horses could be slaughter for a lost profit return. For more info visit www.SaveDaHorses.org
Horse slaughter should stop
I favor the ban on horse slaughter because we don't eat companion or sporting animals - it's a social taboo we need to respect.
But the main reason - slaughter bound horses are treated with brutality, instead of receiving a responsible retirement, and a humane injection at the end.
Too often, the worker in the knock box fails to stun the animal. To keep the line moving and maximize profits, horses regain consciousness 30 seconds later. Conscious dismemberment is illegal, but it is agonizingly common. In Mexico, its 100 times worse than that - every horse at some plants meets the knife awake.
Beyond the cruelty, there's the drugs in horse meat. The advertisements to European consumers that horse meat is healthy are rubbish. Like BP oil, what the horse slaughter industry claims and how responsible they really are to their customers, and the environment, are worlds apart.
Most horses - because they're not raised for the food chain - get medications that may be safe for them but cause cancer in humans. In the US, drugs are not tracked in horses because WE DON'T EAT THEM.
The new declarations on drugs at the Canadian border are nonsense - they will be signed by the least trustworthy person in the line, the kill truck driver. It's laughable to think the drivers who remove the eyes of unruly horses, to handle better (evidence: USDA investigations released in 2008) will tell the truth about drugs in the load of horses they're selling, even if they knew.
In one landmark study published in Feb 2010 "Food and Toxicology Journal" -- 100% of US race horses tested positive for phenylbutazone, a carcinogen in humans. Even one dose of "Bute" in a horse's lifetime rules him off the table, for good reason - In addition to cancer, phenlybutazone causes bone marrow suppression and fatal liver failure. Most US horses get it so they are ineligible for slaughter, period.
Fertility drugs given to broodmares cause miscarriage in women - even in minute amounts - a tragic side effect from eating what consumers are told is a healthy alternative to beef.
It's not just US horse meat that's contaminated. The brand new EU passport system appears to be failing. I just learned from a veterinarian inside the system, most of the post-mortem tests at UK horse slaughter houses are coming back positive for banned drugs - in horses declared drug free.
Horse slaughter is brutal, and it's a health risk for people, too. The ban is long overdue. Until then, I hope consumers look into what they are really feeding their families.
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