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Perth butcher Vincent Garreffa has become the first person in Australia to legally sell horse meat for human consumption, after being given the green light from the West Australian government.

Since the meat went on sale at his Inglewood-based Mondo Di Carne butcher’s shop, he has received thousands of emails of complaint, and even death threats from people outraged with the idea of horses on dinner plates.

But Mr Garreffa is determined to keep the meat on shelves, telling the Sydney Morning Herald, “We feel it's not going to be big business, it's not a money making venture, it's all about supplying the ethnic community with something they grew up with."

Interestingly, Australia already has two abattoirs licensed to prepare and export horse meat for human consumption, and in 2009 sent 24 thousand tonnes to countries like Russia, Japan and Belgium where horse meat is widely considered to be a delicacy.

And restaurants seem to want in on the action.

“We’ve had so many requests from restaurants around the country, I need to find time to sit down and go through them all.”

In spite of all the complaints that Garreffa has received, a poll conducted by watoday.com.au revealed that 48% of respondents couldn’t see the difference between eating lamb, beef or horse.