The European Union’s council decided Dec. 8 to suspend the importation of horsemeat from Mexico. The meat will still be allowed into the EU until March 15, 2015, as part of a transitional period, as long as the importer demonstrates the products were certified and dispatched prior to Jan. 15, 2015.

“The latest audits carried out by the commission in Mexico have confirmed serious shortcomings in the capacity of the Mexican authorities to carry out reliable checks, and in particular to attest the absence of substances prohibited by Council Directive,” stated the organization.

An audit carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office in Mexico showed that there were no effective controls over which drugs or supplements horses received before arriving for slaughter.

“Horses in Mexico are, by default, not considered to be food producing animals until they have been designated for this purpose,” stated the audit report. “Anabolic steroids and other substances, which are prohibited for administration to food-producing animals during their lifetime in the EU, can be legally used in Mexico.”

“Banning horsemeat imports from Mexico is long overdue,” said Joanna Swabe, Humane Society International’s European Union executive director. “For years Humane Society International has repeatedly sounded the alarm about horsemeat entering the food chain that does not fully meet EU safety standards. As well as safeguarding EU consumer safety, closing our borders to horsemeat from these countries is important for animal welfare, too. Horse slaughter, regardless of which country it is in, is fraught with inherent cruelty.”

According to the audit, 87 percent of horses slaughtered in Mexico for meat export to the EU originated in the United States. Another of the issues dictating the decision was the inhumane transport of horses from the United States into Mexico. The United States does not currently allow the slaughter of horses.

“In general, the worst contraventions we know are in relation to transport,” Michael Scannell, director of the EU Commission Food and Veterinary Office, told ESPN. “By way of example, we will publish a report in the next number of weeks in relation to Mexico where we saw animals which arrived dead from the United States or non-ambulatory, i.e., they weren’t even able to stand.”

The EU Commission is also examining the situation with horsemeat imported from Canada.