Taste, Appearance, Consistency: What Makes Horsemeat Special?

The taste of horse meat can be compared to that of beef and venison. It tastes a little spicier, sweeter, and more sour than beef. The color is dark red with a blue tinge when the meat comes from adult animals. Foal meat, on the other hand, has a light red color like veal. The consistency of horse meat is firm, it is interspersed with little fatty tissue, but is still fine-grained and tender.

Compared to beef, horse meat is significantly lower in fat and contains fewer calories. The nutrient content also differs significantly: It is particularly rich in iron and calcium, but contains smaller amounts of beta-carotene and vitamins E, B1 and B2. Minerals such as phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, sodium and potassium are also contained less.

Depending on which part is involved, horsemeat can be prepared like beef as goulash, roast, steak, roulades and filet or processed into sausage. The cooking times are a little shorter than for beef, as horsemeat is very tender anyway and would otherwise dry out quickly due to its low fat content. Because the kidneys and liver of horses are often heavily contaminated with cadmium, these offal are not suitable for consumption.

Horses are not usually fattened to produce meat. In most cases, these are private animals that are released for slaughter. For example, such animals may only receive certain medications during their lifetime. Before their meat is sold, the animals are subjected to an official inspection. In Germany you will find the meat mainly in special horse slaughterhouses.

In Germany, the consumption of horse meat is hardly widespread. Only about 50 grams per year per person are consumed. One reason for this is that many people see horses as pets or farm animals. The Rhenish Sauerbraten is one of the few dishes that is traditionally prepared with horse meat in this country.

The 2013 horsemeat scandal was problematic not because of the meat itself, but because of the mislabeling and banned labeling as beef. In addition, the origin was obscured by several intermediate suppliers, so that it was not possible to trace how the animals were raised. In principle, the consumption of horse meat is considered to be completely unproblematic.