Argentina's equine industry clashes with regulators over drug traceability rules

Argentina's equine industry is in an uproar over new veterinary drug traceability regulations. Key industry chambers, equestrian bodies, veterinarians, and breeders are demanding that sports horses be excluded from a system designed for animals destined for meat production. They argue that these horses never enter the human food chain, yet the new rules impose controls, electronic prescriptions, and registration requirements.

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The norm imposes controls, electronic prescriptions, and records on them even though these equines never enter the food chain.

The formal complaint was submitted to the National Service of Agrifood Health and Quality (Senasa) by thirteen representative entities. They requested that sports horses be removed from the circuit for human consumption, thereby exempting them from obligations under Resolution 461/2025. This resolution mandates microchip registration and the use of an Electronic Veterinary Prescription (RVE) for treatments, such as when a veterinarian administers the anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone to a sports horse.

Senasa sources explained that the European Union's restriction on the use of phenylbutazone is the root of the issue. The EU prohibits any horse treated with this drug from being used for human consumption. As phenylbutazone is commonly used in sports, its administration now requires an RVE and individual animal registration under the new traceability scheme. The industry's proposal, according to an official source, is to directly exclude sports horses from the EU's meat production circuit to avoid the recurring need for electronic prescriptions for this medication.

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The European Union prohibits that a horse treated with phenylbutazone be destined for human consumption.

The industry representatives emphasized that sports horses regularly receive essential veterinary treatments for their well-being, recovery, and athletic performance. These include anti-inflammatories, analgesics, corticosteroids, sedatives, anesthetics, and antibiotics. The phenylbutazone issue is particularly cited because its administration disqualifies a horse from entering the food chain according to European sanitary standards. The broad application of a regime created to meet EU meat export demands has inadvertently included horses used for sport, breeding, and work, none of which are part of the commercial meat production circuit.

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What the sector proposes is to directly exclude sports horses from the circuit for the European Union and, in this way, avoid the obligation to issue an electronic prescription each time this medication is used.