Contrary to media reports, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has not approved a New Mexico plant to slaughter horses for human consumption, but is considering an application, Agriculture Undersecretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen said today.

Hagen told the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee that the agency is considering the application because under current law, horses are considered livestock for human consumption and the Food Safety and Inspection Service is required to provide inspection.

FSIS has not provided horse meat inspection since 2006 when an appropriations rider banned the inspection. Last year the appropriations bill did not include that provision.

Sam Farr, D-Calif., the subcommittee ranking member, asked why FSIS is considering the application when the agency faces furloughing inspectors due to the sequester and there are so many concerns about drug residues in horse meat. Hagen said that considering horse meat inspection is “an obligation we are required to do, not something we are advocating.”

Farr noted that horses presented for slaughter are not raised for human consumption, but come from a great variety of backgrounds such as ranch horses, race horses, show horses, pets and draught horses, and may have been given a great variety of drugs.

Hagen said that the agency is “adjusting” its drug tolerance levels based on evidence gathered since the agency last provided inspection for the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

FSIS will take into consideration “every public health concern” in considering resuming the inspections, Hagen said.

“Public opinion can change,” she concluded, but “only Congress can change the law.”