Don't watch if you're in a good mood...

Somegirl · Post by **Somegirl** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 2:16 pm

Because this is sad

http://www.meat.org/index-1.asp?c=gwmcba0810

I confess. I cried.

Punji · Post by **Punji** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:18 pm

It is sad how slaughterhouses are.. but at the same time, if you purchase from sustainable and smaller farms, they do not do many of the things that are in the video. As the saying goes.. "know where your food comes from".

My wife's family are all farm owners in Iowa and love and care for all the animals that they raise for consumption.

Being a Vegetarian would make me sad.

because:

Post by **Atelo** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:23 pm

I thought most countries had laws about how the animals were to be slaughtered in a humane way. I don't have time to google anything on it right now but I could swear I heard stuff about that before.

Somegirl · Post by **Somegirl** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 3:41 pm

Most countries do, but oh no not here in Amurrica!

Don't get me wrong, I loves me some meat too. Our ancestors ate meat, and when it's done the right way, not injected with hormones, raised to be genetically disfigured for profit, and raised in disgusting environments, it isn't bad for you. Our standard of care for livestock is fucking pathetic.

I just wish we had alternatives more available. I search for cage-free eggs, and grass-fed beef. The first burger I tried at Burger Lounge in SD I was astonished at the difference in quality of meat when the cattle were being fed what nature intended them to eat. There's a good documentary on American farming that I'll have to find the name for.. Can't remember right now, where there was a farmer being harassed by big corporations because of his free-range meat that he was selling. They took him to court, accusing his stations as being unsanitary. When he had hired lab techs to test out his ranch, the slaughtering stations had just a fraction of the bacteria as the corporate farms slaughterhouses.

I know it sounds like I'm pulling facts out of my ass, and I probably am, so I'll look for the name of that documentary right now and edit later.

godpigeon · Post by **godpigeon** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:15 pm

Aactually they have lots of laws/rules, and those videos are from places that were breaking them.

The forklift to the cow... that was a famous one out in central cali... totally illegal, and shutdown by the FDA once it came out.

PS... I love how the cows are "genetically changed to provide more milk"... huh?

Post by **Atelo** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:26 pm

Plants and dogs are bread for a purpose. Like those, cows are too. On top of selective breeding for quality milk and such, they also give them hormones to increase production. Beef cattle are given steroids to increase their yield.

I wouldn't say they were genetically altered, which is quite different from selective breeding, hybridization, drugs, or food supplements, which I'm pretty sure is the norm today.

If you want a good example of hybridization in plants, take a look at Bananas. Your regular yellow banana you find in a store is not something that grows in the wild. It was bred by man into the form it is today. Wild bananas have large seeds in them. No genetics were involved.

This may seem off topic but it's a good example of how people often think something is genetically altered in a laboratory when it is actually just bred that way by man.

godpigeon · Post by **godpigeon** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 6:20 pm

It is what they're trying to imply, that man has messed with the genes and made "frankencows".. when it's just selective breeding at most.. or added hormones.

People have a weird fear (to me at least) about genetic engineering, and they're "preying" on that fact.

Somegirl · Post by **Somegirl** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:07 pm

Yes we have regulations and laws, but hey, it's also the law that illegal immigrants can't be hired to work here. Look how well that one's being enforced.

I'd say it's on topic Atelo. We're talkin about all grown food here.

Zamphir · Post by **Zamphir** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 4:10 am

while i dont deny that some of this stuff goes on ....

Peta spreads alot of propaganda and is all about shock value ....like pidgey said some of these clips are old and the places have since been shut down ....however Peta will continue to shock and Awe you with them...

their goal is to stop ALL slaughter of animals and make everyone a vegan ...

Post by **Dartagn** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 5:31 am

I go sustainable and local at all costs around here. We have lots of good things up in the hills of Western VA, and I get to eat pretty well... The harder I work to find the good stuff, the better my reward so to speak.

Anyone here read Michael Pollan? If you haven't, each and every one of you would enjoy it... I have copies of his books in .pdf and .epub format if you would like to browse them.

I have no problem with killing animals and eating them, and if you have ever eaten at a McDonalds since finding out what might have been done to the cow in your burger you don't either. But, all of us should go out of our way to not buy those products.

I hope I am able to find lots of good things in San Diego, even though it is mostly Big Agriculture out there.