Meat Industry

Recently I've had a number of conversations about my eating habits regarding meat, organic, local, and processed foods. To preface this post I don't like lables but if forced to have one (or just a short answer to the question) I'm vegetarian. I choose to avoid meat when possible, but with that said I do occasionally have a craving for it and think there are ethical, sustainable and responsible ways to go about eating meat. For instance, I would choose free range or organic meat that was raised/slaughterd ethically. Also, really throwing off the animal rights side of vegarianism, I am an advocate of sustenance hunting and fishing. I believe that if done sustainably hunting is good for the balance of our microenvironments, especially with what we have done in Wisconsin to the deer population by increasing thier food supply (corn fields) and reducing their natural predators (killing off the timber wolves). Also, I try to avoid as many processed foods as possible.

With that said I was reading headlines today and came across one on BBC News. It covers the largest meat recall in the history of the US. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7249911.stm The USDA recalled 143 million lbs of beef from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company dating back to February 1st. The article state that while it is not an imenent health threat most of the meat has likely been consumed already. The same company was video taped by the Humane Society of America and two former employees were charged with cruelty to animals.

This instance illustrates why I try to avoid processed foods and why the meat industry has problems. The fact that most of this meat was eaten before the recall was in effect makes you wonder what else you might be eating that you aren't aware of and what the standards of the plant are. It is obvious that Westland/Hallmark was not following the standards set by the USDA and FDA. This isn't just in regards to the meat industry. In the fall fo 2006 there was a recall on spinach by the FDA http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/spinach.html because of an e. coli contamination.

This doesn't go to say that everything produced organically or locally is always better and that we need to question everything mass produced or processed. We just need to be aware of what is out there and help be part of a solution by promoting awarness and raising our standards for knowledge and quality of our food. After all, if we are what we eat, wouldn't you like to know what you're eating?