A racehorse that was retired after an injury was slaughtered and served to diners at a municipal soup kitchen in southern Turkey, according to local media reports and a food safety notice from the Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
The case came to light after a diner found a foreign object in a meal served in southern Mersin province, prompting an investigation.
Investigators found that the object was a microchip belonging to Smart Latch, a 4-year-old English thoroughbred mare that had won races at the Adana Yeşiloba Hippodrome, local reports said. Tests later showed that the meat in the kavurma, a Turkish meat dish usually made with beef or lamb, came from a single-hoofed animal, a category that includes horses, donkeys and mules, according to a ministry update published on March 12.
The ministry added the product from the Mersin Metropolitan Municipality soup kitchen to its list of unsafe foods after the test result. Turkish media reports said authorities destroyed more than 200 kilograms of the meat dish and filed a criminal complaint.
Owner Suat Topçu told the Demirören News Agency (DHA) that the mare had been retired after suffering a leg injury in her last race in October. He said he had arranged for the horse to be donated to a riding club through a transporter he knew, but later learned from ministry officials that the animal never reached its destination.
“The fine is not important. What’s important is finding those who committed this cruelty,” Topçu said, according to DHA. Local media said the ministry fined him TL 132,000 for failing to formally report the donation.
Investigators suspect the horse was taken to slaughter, its meat mislabeled as beef and then sold into the food supply chain, according to local reports. In a statement cited by British tabloid The Sun, the municipality said its meat purchases were made in line with regulations and under veterinary supervision and that it had tightened controls after the allegations surfaced.
The case has drawn attention in Turkey because soup kitchens run by municipalities serve low-income residents and because racehorses in the country are registered with microchips that allow authorities to trace their identity and history.
© Agence France-Presse