CNN, the venerable leader of all news media outlets, has posted a story about (shock!) animals being mistreated at a slaughterhouse. As if slaughter weren't mistreatment enough, right?
Anyway, fair warning. Here's what the tape (whih I am too faint-of-heart to watch) shows:
The video shows Hallmark Meat Packing Co. workers administering repeated electric shocks to downed cows -- animals that are too sick, weak or otherwise unable to stand on their own. Workers are seen kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter.
Can you imagine? Stand up, lazy sick cow, so we can eviscerate you! Not to mention (as the article does) the implications for the quality and heathfulness of the meat. Reason number ten million why I am not eating meat--I can't guarantee the sanitation, contamination risk, etc. And lord knows we can't trust the government to keep an effective watch, either. Scary!
This isn't intended as a vegetarian polemic, either. I hate those people. But I think we should all really investigate where our food comes from, and how it is prepared, etc. I have a sneaking suspicion that many of the modern-day ills this country is afflicted with start with our food sources (ancient Rome, anyone?) and if we all pay a little more attention, we can root some of them out.
2 comments:
These days I only eat kosher-certified meat. It's a sin to mistreat an animal, to kill an animal who's sick, to have an unclean facility, etc. Those rabbis don't mess around. As it says on the Hebrew National label, they answer to a higher authority. I also buy organic milk and cheese from a local famers' market.
The politics of food (and fuel), will, I think, become increasingly more important in the next few decades. Whether it's water rights, ethanol, disease, or the treatment of animals, individual and institutional investment in the food chain may be the most important political issue of the century.
I love your approach. Kosher meat has been never had the problems with hormones, disease, etc. Organic milk is an absolute necessity (since we aren't supposed to have a ton of it anyhow).
The politics of food are fascinating. Whole Foods, for example, selling organic frozen broccoli...shipped from China. I really think in our lifetime, we're going to see a serious throwback to the local butcher, victory garden, etc. Taking responsibility for our own foods.
Have you read "the china study"? It's on my list...
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