Further re the Angst of Eating Meat

Today the NYTimes regales us with the latest in marketing to the soft, squishy, affluent carnivore. It appears that Whole Foods Markets and other vendors are labeling some of their products "animal compassionate," indicating that the pigs or chickens they sell have had comfy lives right up to their premature, well-fattened demises.  And there is a growing market for eggs purloined from free range hens, as well.

Reporter Andrew Martin says this in his second sentence, "But in the end, they will still be headed for the dinner plate."

Surely it is better that the animals people eat "enjoy" their lives, however brief they may be. But that pesky question of "humane slaughter" keeps coming up.

The Brits have an organization called the Humane Slaughter Association that says this on its website:

"Realistic

The majority of the population eats meat and, despite changing attitudes, this is likely to continue. Whilst animals go on being farmed for food, the HSA takes a responsible, objective attitude to what most people prefer to ignore: how their meat reaches the table."

Recently some of HSA's members visited Denmark to learn about " the latest carbon dioxide stunning and killing technology."  There appears to be no way to learn about what humane slaughter is without buying one of this group's publications: Electrical Stunning of Red Meat Animals  or Gas Killing of Chicks in Hatcheries, for example.

Sigh.

Comments

[fruit seasons]

I think my produce guide could improve the quality of your ingredients. FruitSeasons.com

Submit you blog to our Food Blog directory while you there!

[KathyF]

That previous comment is unintendly ironic.

Yes, when you're searching for a humane way to eat meat, the answer is to eat produce.

I wish those squishy affluent carnivores could hear my cows when their babies are taken away from them. I am hoping to be gone that week, since I cannot stand the noise.

[foodie]

Though it's a blatant cry for PR, the first comment stays, as it must in order for us to enjoy Kathy's comment.
And anyway, I am a friend of produce--who isn't?
As for calves, our landlady in Belgium always kept one beautiful Jersey cow in her stable, and each year there was one calf---when the calf was a little guy there was much angst and despair over his separation from Mom and then his slaughter into veal chops.
Finally, our friend could stand it no more, and there went the thick Jersey cream and perfect yogurt and all the rest. We never went for the veal, mind you, and she bought cream elsewhere from a farmer but it wasn't Jersey cream, no.