The DVD "Meet your meat" was something that I would not ordinarily watch. Generally I try not to pay credit to super-radical organizations such as PETA but because this was part of the assignment I viewed the film. I was not surprised to see graphic "scare factor" footage that would disturb most viewers and felt that the opinions posed by the film were extremely biased. Eating meat is by no means a clean cut beautiful process, it involves the killing and dismembering of animals for the betterment of human life; unfortunately, most people have simply disconnected themselves from this fact. As an avid hunter and fisherman I am fully aware of the gory aspects involved in the consumption of meat products and films such as this really do not motivate me not to eat meat. Personally, I think the problem is that people have been so far dissconnected from the processes involved with meat consumption that when they are faced with the truth it is sometimes frightening. Rather than being alarmed by such a video you should feel educated. If you chose to eat meat you should be prepared to experience the negative aspects of your choices; it is our responsibility.
In the "Hidden Cost of Cheap Chicken" reading the processes by which chicken is mass produced were outlined. Again, I was not surprised. Chicken is one of the staple foods in the United States and many other places in the world and to produce such large quantities of meat in a cost effective manor many organizations have chosen quantity over quality; subsequently producing more revenue as opposed to a healthier product. As an American consumer it is important to be aware of what you eat. It is possible to research where products come from and decide which products are right for you, poultry is no exception to this rule. If consumers become aware of what exactly they are purchasing they can consciously change this problem. Not all chicken farms practice cruel processes and it is our jobs to locate and support those organizations that take not only the animals comfort but also human health into consideration.
Some books to check out on the subject are:
Folwell, Raymond. The structure of Pacific Northwest beef cattle industry. Pullman: Washington State University, 1991.
Cross, Russel. Beef slaughtering, cutting, preserving, and cooking on the farm. Washington D.C.: United States Agricultural Research Service, 1977.
2 comments:
I agree that there is a disconnect between people and meat production. However, that disconnect can work in several ways. Some do not really realize that to get meat, something died and it was gory. I have another kind of disconnect. I grew up around farms, and have seen butchered animals. But these are small farms, so the animals I've seen being slaughtered are processed much differently than the mass produced meat I buy in the supermarket. So yeah, these materials have been educational.
I agree that it is individual's responsibility to take matters of locating and supporting companies that implement good ethical standards. But something that alarmed me was the claim from the film that terms such as "Organic" and "Free-range" don't mean what we think they do. But how crazy for us to assume what this term means, how little the majority of Americans intiate educating themselves about such basic things.
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