Funding for USDA horsemeat inspections will not be part of the U.S. House of Representatives $125.5 billion 2012 Agricultural Appropriations Act passed by the House Appropriations Committee on May 31.

Every year since 2006, lawmakers have denied funding for USDA meat inspections at horse processing plants in the U.S. The lack of funding eliminated food safety certifications necessary for U.S.-produced horsemeat products to be exported to Europe and other offshore markets. As a result, the defunding figured significantly in operators’ decisions to shutter the last U.S.-based horse processing plant in 2007.

In recent years, however, lawmakers in Montana and Wyoming have passed legislation that could facilitate private sector horse processing plant development in those states. In May Nebraska legislators passed a bill authorizing a study to determine the feasibility of private-sector horse processing plant development in that state.

Language stripping the USDA of funding for horsemeat inspections did not appear in the original House Agricultural Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012. In response, Virginia Congressman Jim Moran introduced an amendment prohibiting the use of federal revenue to pay the salaries or expenses of USDA personnel to conduct horsemeat inspections at horse processing plants located in the U.S. On Tuesday, House Appropriations Committee members passed the Moran amendment by a bipartisan vote of 24-21