Argentina’s equestrian sector challenges veterinary traceability rules aimed at export horses

Argentina’s horse industry disputes new veterinary traceability regime, arguing it unfairly impacts sporting horses not destined for meat export, amid broader EU compliance measures.

Argentina’s equestrian sector has opened a dispute with Senasa over a new veterinary traceability regime that, in practice, pulls sporting horses into rules designed for animals headed for the export meat chain.

According to a presentation filed by 13 industry bodies, the controls required under Resolution 461/2025 are ill-suited to horses that never enter the food supply. The measure obliges veterinarians to use electronic prescriptions and record individual treatments, including microchip identification when drugs such as phenylbutazone are administered. Sector groups argue that sporting horses routinely receive medicines for pain relief, recovery and performance, yet are already, by definition, outside the human consumption chain.

Senasa says the framework was created to meet European Union requirements for horsemeat exports, where treatment with phenylbutazone disqualifies an animal from slaughter for human consumption. Officials have indicated the industry’s preferred solution would be to exclude sporting horses from the export circuit altogether.

The issue has now widened. Resolution 654/2026, published last week, created Sigtrazavet, a broader national system for tracking veterinary products and made electronic prescriptions mandatory for animals including equines. That has sharpened concern among breeders, veterinarians and racing interests, even as Senasa says the aim is to preserve export markets through tighter pharmaceutical control.

No formal amendment has yet been issued.