France's horsemeat industry races back With the French fretting over the provenance of their meat in general, they are increasingly turning to traditional artisan butchers, including those selling horse. "The media frenzy has been a gift horse," said Damien Jegousse, head of a family equine butcher's shop in Saint-Avé, Brittany. The recent scandal is not a health affair, but a fraud on the origin of the goods. Horse meat is not incriminated itself," he said. "We sell our meat exclusively on markets," said Mr Jegousse, "Customers have noticed that it's cheaper, which has helped some to get over their misgivings." He said a horse stake was on sale for 23 euros per kilo compared to 38.5 euros for beefsteak. Another attractive selling point was the fact that horsemeat is "less fatty so better for your health," he said. During and after the Second World War, French doctors promoted horse meat as a healthy alternative to other meats that had become scarce. But despite the recent rise in sales, the horsemeat industry has been on a downward spiral for the past 30 years, dropping from 85,000 tonnes sold in 1981 to 20,000 last year - from 1.5 kilos per inhabitant per year to just 300 grammes on average - half as much as in Italy. The clientele is also ageing fast: almost three-quarters of French consumers eating horsemeat are more than 50 years old, with under 35s accounted for only 7 per cent of customers in 2011. Mr Vigoureux warned that more must be done to attract not just customers but young horse butchers. Given current trends, "half of horse butchers will have disappeared within five years without anyone to take them over," he told Le Figaro. Horsemeat specialists hope the renewed interest in the wonders of a rare horse steak, seared on both sides, will not just be a flash in the pan. At Le Taxi Jaune, a Paris restuaurant whose house specialities include horse brain, head chef Otis Lebert said that interest was on the rise. "But call me in three months and let's see if it is still the case," he added.