Microchip reveals racehorse meat served at Turkey soup kitchen: Reports

The horse had been recently retired after suffering a leg injury. Read more at straitstimes.com.

ISTANBUL – A four-year-old English racehorse, which was retired after an injury, ended up being slaughtered and served to unwitting diners at a Turkish soup kitchen, local media reports said.

The scandal surfaced after one of the diners complained about finding something in his food in the southern city of Mersin in February.

Agriculture ministry investigators discovered the object was a microchip belonging to a racehorse called Smart Latch, a thoroughbred mare which had won first-place finishes at the hippodrome in the nearby city of Adana.

On examining the food where the chip was found – a dish called “kavurma” normally made of fried beef or lamb – they realised it was horse meat.

Details only emerged after a March 12 ministry update which said the kavurma from Mersin municipality’s soup kitchen had been “added to the list of unsafe products after testing showed it contained meat from a single‑hoofed animal” – a horse, donkey or mule.

“We are in distress,” owner Suat Topcu told DHA news agency on March 13, saying the mare, which began racing in 2024, had been recently retired after suffering a leg injury.