HUMANE ANIMAL TREATMENT ISSUES - OVERVIEW
This is a tough one. I won’t be overly graphic in any detail and there will not be any upsetting photos or videos in this article...
This is a tough one. I won’t be overly graphic in any detail and there will not be any upsetting photos or videos in this article. Also please remember that I am giving you my personal experiences and relevant workplace insights as a chef regarding the matter.
As a starting point, I have 25 years cooking professionally so I’ve seen mainly the end result of the gut-checking process of how we get our center of the plate proteins to the end consumer. This is by no means an indictment on meat eaters, as I clearly am still one currently. I will admit that I have been a vegetarian for intermittent periods of time in my life, the longest one (about 8 weeks) being after going down the rabbit hole on this topic while being an Executive Chef at a steakhouse. That particular journey began and ended on YouTube of course and you’re more than welcome to take that approach, but fair warning…it’s not for the faint of heart.
Let’s try to get some context as to why this is such a difficult topic to begin with. That is, we are humans and we (generally speaking) naturally crave, desire and salivate over the smell and taste of searing, roasting and grilling animal flesh. We evolved this way, so unless you want to go into a self and species loathing tirade we have to be fully conscious of this fact. We wouldn’t be here if every single generation of every peoples everywhere in the world didn’t hunt and consume meat.
No matter where you look in the world I believe you’ll find vegetarianism a choice, not something fully and completely inherent to our species. In the end it is a personal choice. However, I do believe that it is the vegan that has the highest moral ground in this conversation. Choosing not to participate in the suffering and killing of animals is a difficult choice now as ever before. But a completely vegan diet in and of itself doesn’t suit everyone’s nutritional or gustatorial needs either. To me there is a glaring light called hypocrisy that illuminates our way forward. We have to make distinctions between animals that we love, consider family and that some of us literally kiss on the mouth versus those hidden and forgotten beasts that end up wrapped in cellophane on grocery store shelves. What happens when we consider this too long?
I’m sure there are religious observations regarding food restrictions including vegetarianism but that is not at all what is being discussed here. These are choices that people make to worship their God as they see fit. We are considering the general population that consumes the majority of less than idyllically produced meat. The questions I seek to raise here are:
· Why are animals being raised in a way that causes them a great deal of suffering and undue stress?
· How can we change these horrendous conditions without making the cost of meat inordinately expensive?
· How can we learn as people why this suffering of animals is a vitally important topic and how to not turn a blind eye to it?
The vast majority of meat that you purchase comes from massive farming operations that are called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFO’s. There has been plenty written about these and you are probably familiar with them. Here is an excellent resource for beginning a trip down this particular rabbit hole; SENTIENTMEDIA.ORG.
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The purpose of these massive operations is to maximize the profits for major and minor food producers alike. You don’t have to be one of the largest producers to mistreat animals, of course though, they do it best. One of the central challenges to understanding that there is a problem is the lack of transparency in the food system. This is by design. It has been said that if slaughterhouses were made of glass there would be a lot more vegetarians. I think this applies to every aspect of the food production systems that remains stubbornly hidden. Hopefully this article will start to outline these challenges.
THE LARGEST PRODUCERS DO:
· Provide almost all of the meat consumed in the U.S.
· Provide low cost meat to the consumer.
· Allow intolerable conditions and suffering for animals.
· Allow tremendously difficult and dangerous conditions for workers, many of whom are marginalized migrants or disadvantaged persons.
· Allow drugs to be given to animals indiscriminately, which subsequently are consumed by you.
· Allow massive environmental damage with little to no repercussions.
· Exert tremendous political pressure and lobbying power to squash any attempts to gain market share.
· Continue to bastardize Organic labeling for marketing purposes to be not much better than standard operations. The Organic label, incidentally, can produce even more suffering and death for animals that aren’t cost effective to continue being raised with this label.
The solutions are many and also very few. What I mean is that you have to dig very deeply to find and easily purchase on a regular basis animal products and by-products that you may consider to be the best alternative. Sometimes you have to just do the best you can in the immediate situation that you’ve been given. The best solutions are not always available. That’s what makes the convenience of commodity meats and goods so compelling, sometimes you just don’t have a choice.
Maybe one day we can get more of our products from small farmers like the bucolic one below. One of the avenues that the next part of this topic will go down is taking a look at non-profit organizations such as CertifiedHumane.org. So to begin doing something that can be considered action, I will put together an article in which I will research local food producers and do the best I can to highlight their positives and provide their contact information for you to decide if they are helpful to you. If you would like to assist with this list you may make a comment below or email me with the Local Producer you’d like to promote. As always, Happy Cooking!
Gordon