Border patrol seizes 42 pounds of horse meat, genitals

CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) – Customs and Border Protection agents have seized 42 pounds of horse meat, including 13 pounds of horse genitals, from two women arriving from Mongolia at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

The horse meat was hidden in juice boxes. One of the women said the horse genitals were for medicinal purposes.

CBP announced the seizures Thursday; the meat was seized on Jan. 29.

Neither woman was criminally charged.

Three liters of yak milk was also seized and incinerated, along with the horse meat.

“Customs and Border Protection takes no pleasure in seizing and destroying travelers’ food products,” said Wayne Biondi, CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Washington Dulles. “We’re in the business of protecting America’s agriculture industries, like the livestock industry, from the potential introduction of animal diseases posed by these unpermitted food products.”

CBP says horse meat is prohibited from entering the U.S. without an official certification due to fears of foot-and-mouth disease. Mongolian horse meat is always prohibited because of concerns about diseases.