Overview
- Project leader Julio Cittadini launched the Burros Patagones pilot in Trelew in April with donkey cuts priced near 7,500 pesos per kilo, positioning the meat below beef.
- Early batches sold out within days, with a local butcher reporting four animals processed into eight half-carcasses and repeat buyers returning after tastings at the counter.
- Senasa enabled on-farm traceability, yet wider sales still need formal approvals such as authorized slaughterhouses and agro‑industry registrations, and a Mendoza food‑safety official noted the national Food Code does not list donkey as a market species.
- Organizers scheduled a public tasting for Thursday, April 16, to gauge acceptance with empanadas, sausages, and asado made from donkey meat.
- Backers pitch donkeys as well suited to dry Patagonian fields and point to possible byproducts like hides for ejiao, while animal‑protection groups question the ethics of adding another species to the meat market.