Iowa Meat Plant Approved for Horse Processing Permit by Paulick Report Staff|07.13.201307.13.2013|8:50am5:44pm A meat plant in Sigourney Iowa received a permit from the USDA last week to begin processing horse meat. The plant became the second in the United States to receive such a permit, preceded by Valley Meats Company of New Mexico. The Iowa plant will process about 200 horses each week and will employ about 25 people in the first year. Keaton Walker, president of Responsible Transportation, told The Horse that the plant will get its horses from “existing channels that send horses to Canada and Mexico.” The lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States and several rescue groups against assorted government officials to stop horse slaughter is still pending. Read more at The Horse