tagged w/ Meat
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With the news that McDonalds has dropped the use of "pink slime" - do you want to know what it is? A clip from Jamie Oliver's show discusses what it is and where you find it.With the news that McDonalds has dropped the use of "pink slime" - do you... more
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The Atlantic
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Dead Cow Walking: The Case Against Born-Again Carnivorism
By Marc Bekoff
Dec 27 2011, 8:53 AM ET 614
Pigs, chickens, and other animals raised for food are sentient beings with rich emotional lives. They feel everything from joy to grief.
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"Eating Animals," by Nicolette Hahn Niman, a livestock rancher, with help from deer hunter Tovar Cerulli and butcher Joshua Applestone, caught my eye because, at first, I thought this essay was authored by Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote a best-selling book with the same title. While Niman and her friends do rightly argue against consuming factory-farmed animals -- who live utterly horrible lives from the time that they're born to the time that they're transported to slaughterhouses and barbarically killed -- these three born-again carnivores, all former vegetarians or vegans, now proudly eat animals and think that it's just fine to do so. They gloss over the fact that even if the animals they eat are "humanely" raised and slaughtered, an arguable claim, they're still taking a life. These animals are merely a means to an end: a tasty meal.
The defensive and apologetic tone of this essay also caught my eye, as did the conveniently utilitarian framework of the argument. The animals they eat were raised simply to become meals because Niman and others choose to eat meat. I like to say that whom we choose to eat is a moral question, and just because these three now choose to eat animals doesn't mean that other people should make the same choice. Note that I wrote "whom" we eat, not "what." Cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals raised for food are sentient beings who have rich emotional lives. They can feel everything from sheer joy to deep grief. They can also suffer enduring pain and misery, and they don't deserve to have the good and happy lives provided by Niman and others ended early just so that their flesh can wind up on what really is a platter of death.
Wolves, lions, and cougars are not moral agents and can't be held accountable for their actions. But most humans know what they're doing and are responsible for their choices.
Cows, for example, are very intelligent. They worry over what they don't understand and have been shown to experience "eureka" moments when they solve a puzzle, such as when they figure out how to open a particularly difficult gate. Cows communicate by staring, and it's likely that we don't fully understand their very subtle forms of communication. They also form close and enduring relationships with family members and friends and don't like to have their families and social networks disrupted. Chickens are also emotional beings, and detailed scientific research has shown that they empathize with the pain of other chickens.
Raising happy animals just so that they can be killed is really an egregious double cross. The "raise them, love them, and then kill them" line of reasoning doesn't have a meaningful ring of compassion. And this isn't mercy killing (euthanasia) performed because these animals need to be put out of their pain. No, these healthy and happy animals are slaughtered, and if you dare to look into their eyes, you know that they're suffering. If you wouldn't treat a dog like this, then you shouldn't treat a cow, a pig, or any other animal in this way.
As a field biologist who studies animal behavior, I feel that the authors' appeal to what happens in the natural world -- "life feeds on life" -- is an illogical justification for their food choices. I've seen thousands of predatory encounters. I cringe when I see them, but I would never interfere. Wild predators, unlike us, have no choice about whom or what they eat. They couldn't survive if they didn't eat other animals. And indeed, many animals are vegetarians, including non-human primates, who eat other animals only on very rare occasions.
Jessica Pierce and I wrote about how appeals to nature are misleading and illogical in our book Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals. We argued that wolves, lions, and cougars, for example, are not moral agents and can't be held accountable for their actions. They don't know right from wrong. On the other hand, most humans do know what they're doing and are responsible for their choices. When it comes down to whose flesh winds up in our mouths, we can make choices, and in my view, eating animals is wrong and unnecessary, even when they are "humanely" raised and slaughtered. Let me add a caveat here because, as a world traveler, I do know that many people do not have the luxury of making a choice about their meals and must eat whatever is available to them. However, those who do have that luxury can easily eat an animal-free diet. And we can work to show others that a vegetarian or vegan diet can be very economical and healthy.
Niman and her friends also note that vegetarian and vegan diets have "never really taken hold." So what? This hardly means that we shouldn't try to do the right thing. They write, "The vast majority of Americans who do try vegetarianism or veganism -- about three-quarters of them -- return to eating meat. Rather than urging people to consume only plants, doesn't it make more sense to encourage them to eat an omnivorous diet that is healthy, ethical, and ecologically sound?" No, it doesn't. What it means is that these people should try harder and not give up just because it might seem difficult to change their meal plans. Perhaps they just need more time and encouragement from other vegetarians who can show them how easy it is to stop eating animals.
It's easy to add more compassion to the world and to expand our compassion footprint. Excuses such as "Oh, I know they suffer, but don't tell me because I love my burger" add cruelty to the world, even if the animals people are eating weren't raised on factory farms and killed in slaughterhouses. You're eating a dead animal who really did care about what happened to him or her. When I ask people how they can dismiss the fact that an animal was killed for their pleasure, they usually fumble here and there and offer no meaningful answer. When I ask them if they'd eat a dog, they look at me with incredulity and emphatically say, "No!" When I ask them why they wouldn't eat a dog, they can't really tell me, offering statements laden with dismissive phrases, such as "Oh, you know...." Because I often travel to China to help in the rehabilitation of Asiatic moon bears who have been rescued from the bear-bile industry, people sometimes ask me, "How can you go there? Isn't that where they eat dogs and cats?" I simply say, "Yes, it is, and I'm from America, where they eat cows and pigs, who are no less sentient and emotional beings." Animals really are very much like us.
No matter how humanely raised they are, the lives of animals raised for food can be cashed out simply as "dead cow/pig/chicken walking." Whom we choose to eat is a matter of life and death. I think of the animals' manifesto as "Leave us alone. Don't bring us into the world if you're just going to kill us to satisfy your tastes."
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Image: Kurt De Bruyn
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The Atlantic
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Dead Cow Walking: The Case Against Born-Again Carnivorism... more
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HORSE MEAT IS COMING TO YOUR MENUE
Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for human consumption after Congress quietly lifted a 5-year-old ban on funding horse meat inspections, and activists say slaughterhouses could be up and running in as little as a month, and..
Full story at the link:
http://www.waneenterprises.com/videos/livewire/127HORSE MEAT IS COMING TO YOUR MENUE
Horses could soon be butchered in the U.S. for... more
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No dead cows, just real, sustainable beef, made with nothing but yummy stem cells and a touch of magic! All yours for a sizzling €250,000 each. And they’ll get cheaper and cheaper with every passing year (can we call that Moo’s law?)No dead cows, just real, sustainable beef, made with nothing but yummy stem cells and... more
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You are what you eat. Trigger is a cowboy. You can tell by the way he makes cattle skittish. From the debut album "Cowboy Logic" comes a heart-warming tale of the cows Trigger has befriended. We hope you enjoy it.
"I'm A Cowboy" Music Video
Filmed on location at Bootjack Ranch, Goldthwaite,TX
Production by Zenfilm
Produced by Merideth Melville
Director & Cinematographer: W. Ross Wells
Music Producer: Dan Workman
Recorded at SugarHill Studios
Cattle Wrangler: Joe Don Reese
Starring Trigger and about 250 head of cattle. We did not get their names.
Get the album on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify. Share it with someone who loves meat.
No cows were harmed in the filming of this production.
http://www.zenhillrecords.com/trigger-im-a-cowboy-music-videoYou are what you eat. Trigger is a cowboy. You can tell by the way he makes cattle... more
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"Biologists will tell you, once they get established, they're going to come to a neighborhood near you,".... "The hogs will find you. That's the situation we're in."
Run for your lives!"Biologists will tell you, once they get established, they're going to come... more
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The Near-Extinction Of American Bison In The 1800’s
As the populations of the United States pushed West in the early 1800’s, a lucrative trade for the fur, skin, and meat of the American Bison began in the great plains. Bison slaughter was further encouraged by the US government as a means of starving out or removing Native American populations that relied on the bison for food. Hunting of bison became so prevalent that travelers on trains in the Midwest would shoot bison during long-haul train trips.
Once numbering in the hundreds of millions in North America, the population of the American Bison decreased to less than 1000 by 1890. Thanks in large part to conservation efforts undertaken by Theodore Roosevelt and by the US government, there are now over 500,000 bison in America.
[Thanks to Bamboocum for bringing this to my attention.]The Near-Extinction Of American Bison In The 1800’s
As the populations of... more
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Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama Laboratory, has developed steaks based on proteins from human excrement. Tokyo Sewage approached the scientist because of an overabundance of sewage mud. They asked him to explore the possible uses of the sewage and Ikeda found that the mud contained a great deal of protein because of all the bacteria.
The researchers then extracted those proteins, combined them with a reaction enhancer and put it in an exploder which created the artificial steak. The “meat” is 63% proteins, 25% carbohydrates, 3% lipids and 9% minerals. The researchers color the poop meat red with food coloring and enhance the flavor with soy protein. Initial tests have people saying it even tastes like beef.Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama Laboratory, has developed steaks based... more
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duzins
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added this
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8 months ago
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Well, I thought yesterday’s article would smooth things over a bit by posting a rational, not overly emotional piece aimed at the politics in San Francisco and to help Senator Leland Yee understand that his campaign people are ruining his shot by playing the race card for him as well as not understanding what misusing social media can do for you.Well, I thought yesterday’s article would smooth things over a bit by posting a... more
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Do you like Al Murray? Do you like meat? Then you are in luck. Al Murray's Compete for the Meat starts next Thursday on Dave at 9pm and to celebrate Dave have created the ultimate meat based game.
Test yourself here http://apps.facebook.com/compete-for-the-meat Good luck!
Al Murrays’ Compete for the Meat starts Thursday 19th May at 9pm, only on Dave (Sky channel 111, Virgin TV channel 128, Freeview 19)Do you like Al Murray? Do you like meat? Then you are in luck. Al Murray's... more
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I'm not a vegetarian, but this will make me want to become one, or move to a farm!
NOW, YOU CAN GET MRSA FROM HANDLING MEAT !
"http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/15/health/main20054211.shtml?tag=nl.e875
"Researchers bought beef, chicken, pork, and turkey in five U.S. cities and found that nearly half of the meat sampled -- 47 percent -- contained drug resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus."
Where is the FDA, and why didn't they prevent this in the first place? Because Bush and other anti public officials neutralized the FDA, EPA, and any other agency which protected the public from unethical and harmful business practices! Put that in policy makers pipe and force them to smoke it.I'm not a vegetarian, but this will make me want to become one, or move to a... more
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While cooking may be the least of your worries as you toil through the challenges of your freshman year, it is important to educate yourself on some of the dangers cooking your own food can pose if done incorrectly. As you explore the exciting world of culinary arts, be sure to handle and cook meat properly, so as to better avoid any food borne illnesses.
LINK : http://www.x-raytechnicianschools.org/10-scary-things-that-might-be-in-your-meat/While cooking may be the least of your worries as you toil through the challenges of... more
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As restaurants take Foie Gras off the menu, in this ‘on the sofa’ discussion, Kirk Leech argues that we shouldn’t worry about eating it and that the detractors have got it wrong. Our intolerance of life style choices is a problem he argues, force feeding ducks is not. Respondents debate the issue and discuss the animal rights angle, reducing humans to the level of ducks, posh food, production and campaign violence. More than a culinary culture war is on the cards.As restaurants take Foie Gras off the menu, in this ‘on the sofa’... more
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eva2
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added this
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11 months ago
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One of the six volunteers hits two ducks out in the field, but the hunters fear one isn't yet dead. If so, the duck is in for a long, slow death throughout the night. As their search dogs continue to turn up nothing in the darkness, the hunters wrestle with the decision whether to leave or keep looking.
Ever wonder where your food comes from? In each episode of "Kill It, Cook It, Eat It," a diverse group of participants is challenged to procure their main course the old-fashioned way: by hunting and killing their chosen prey, butchering it in the slaughterhouse, helping to prepare it in the kitchen, and ultimately sampling it at the dinner table. Some may enjoy the process while others recoil, but for each diner it's an intense journey that just may change their perspectives -- and appetites -- forever.
Watch the premiere of "Kill It, Cook It, Eat It" on Tuesday, January 11 at 10/9c on Current TV.One of the six volunteers hits two ducks out in the field, but the hunters fear one... more
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Laura Silverman: I've spent quite a lot of time ruminating over the notion of eating meat. Like a cow chewing its cud, I have tried to carefully digest what I've gleaned from reading Fast Food Nation, Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Eating Animals and Food Matters, and watching Supersize Me and the incredibly eye-widening Food Inc. At the very least, I think I can say I'm a conscious eater. I'm not going to delve into the horrifying truth of how government and industry conspired to convince us that we all need to have a big slab of (corn-fed) meat at the center of most of our meals on a daily basis, I'm just going to say that we should all be eating a great deal less of the stuff -- for our own sake and that of the planet.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-silverman/to-meat-or-not-to-meat_b_816285.htmlLaura Silverman: I've spent quite a lot of time ruminating over the notion of... more
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Meet Edwin Tuccio, a bison farmer on North Quarter Farm in Riverhead, Long Island. He's been raising bison for over 30 years, joining a small movement of passionate farmers to help bring the breed back to healthy numbers across the country. Right now, it's good to be a bison farmer. There's a growing demand for the meat, prices have doubled, and there's a lot more interest in the food. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liza-de-guia/buffalo-bison-farming_b_827157.htmlMeet Edwin Tuccio, a bison farmer on North Quarter Farm in Riverhead, Long Island.... more
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A major battle over Roundup Ready (RR) genetically modified alfalfa has emerged because it represents a huge contamination threat to organic and conventional agriculture, and opponents don't believe USDA's proposed plan to allow it to be grown with restrictions will work.
"More problematic"
Alfalfa is grown on 22 million acres in the US, making it the fourth major crop after corn, soybeans, and cotton.
Organic farmers use alfalfa extensively. "Alfalfa is a feed staple for all organic livestock, and the most common legume in organic crop rotations in northern states," says Jim Riddle, organic outreach coordinator at the University of Minnesota.
GM alfalfa is a huge threat because it is pollinated by bees and other insects that travel great distances and grows wild near roads, ditches, and yards. "You don't have that with corn, soybeans, or cotton," says Bill Freese, senior policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety. "Those things make it more problematic."
According to a paper by Geertson Seed Farms, one of the biggest potential problems is that GM alfalfa will cross pollinate with wild alfalfa, which will become the dominant weed variety because it has the Roundup Ready herbicide tolerant trait. Weedy GM alfalfa will in turn become a source of pollen and seed that will contaminate conventional and organic alfalfa fields.
"GM alfalfa will be everywhere," says Dag Falck, organic program manager at Nature's Path Foods.
5-mile buffer
USDA's Environment Impact Statement proposes an option whereby RR alfalfa would be grown with restrictions. The EIS lists production states according to three tiers. In 27 Tier 1 states, which include most eastern and southern states where no commercial alfalfa is grown, there would be no restrictions on RR plantings. RR alfalfa seed production would be limited in 14 Tier II and nine Tier III states where farmers must maintain isolation distances of five miles between GM and non-GMO alfalfa. Tier II states, such as Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, are primarily in the Midwest and Tier III states, such as Arizona, California, Oregon, and Wyoming, are in the West.
EIS ignores roundup weed resistance, impacts on honey
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Freese and others question the need for RR alfalfa. "Only 7% of alfalfa is treated with herbicides. It grows so densely that it crowds out weeds."
Approving RR alfalfa, he says, will make it a "chemical dependent crop."
The EIS also ignores the impact on honey, and the fact that bees will gather nectar from GM alfalfa plants and convert into honey. "This is another entry point for GMOs (into foods)," says Riddle.A major battle over Roundup Ready (RR) genetically modified alfalfa has emerged... more
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