2010 inspections of EU-regulated plants in Mexico which slaughtered horses for human consumption, the European Commission Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) uncovered violations. Most American horses destined for slaughter are transported to EU-regulated plants in Mexico and Canada. Horses, unlike traditional food animals in the United States, are not raised (or medicated) with the intent of becoming human food. Because American horses are not intended for the human food chain, they often receive medications banned by the Food and Drug Administration for use in food animals. Concern also exists that horse meat will be mixed with ground-beef products and sold improperly labeled in the US, as occurred during the European 2013 horse meat scandal. Before 2007, three major equine slaughterhouses operated in the United States: Dallas Crown in Kaufman, Texas; Beltex Corporation in Fort Worth, and Cavel International in DeKalb, Illinois. All were Belgian-owned, with Multimeat also having French and Dutch ownership; Velda owned Cavel, Multimeat owned Beltex and Chevideco owned Dallas Crown. The slaughterhouses exported about $42 million in horse meat annually, with most going overseas. About 10 percent of their output was sold to zoos to feed their carnivores, and 90 percent was shipped to Europe and Asia for human consumption. Although the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to end horse slaughter in 2006, the bill never came to a vote before the Senate. The two Texas horse-slaughter plants were ordered closed in 2007, after protracted battles with local municipalities who objected to their financial drain on the municipalities (no tax revenue), ditches of blood, dismembered foals and noxious odors in residential neighborhoods. Later that year, the Cavel plant was closed after local community action. The director of equine protection of the Humane Society of the United States reported seizing large numbers of horses, and equine-rescue facilities were taking in more horses than ever despite a record number of horses shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. The equine market was saturated by increased breeding. In March 2012, Wyoming state Representative Sue Wallis proposed a new horse-meat processing plant in Missouri or Arkansas. According to Wallis, she had six million dollars to invest and support from Belgian horse-meat buyers. In May Wallis sought local investors in Wyoming to help finance the plant, which she said could cost between two and six million dollars and would process up to 200 horses a day for sale abroad and to ethnic