Humane Meat Production

There’s an epidemic spreading in environmental studies students. I mean I see this everywhere, but especially in my fellow classmates. I see cynicism. Some of us have a very pessimistic view of the world. We are taught that climate change is taking over the world and nobody is listening to the scientists, the government is ignoring us and we can’t do anything about it. Or that so many species are going extinct because we’ve deforested their home, we’ve killed their habitat , they have no where  to live, it’s our fault and unfortunately no one is listening to us and we can’t do anything about it. Or that there will be an inevitable pipeline built, oil is going to spill, and  the indigenous people are all getting cancer. Obviously I’m going on a little tangent here, but honestly this is what I hear day to day. We are taught these things in class, and sometimes we get a solution- like oh, maybe if we do this, this could work, or maybe you’re generation can be smarter… but no one is giving us concrete goals to look forward to. We are always fed very daunting stories about the environment. It’s just learn, study, graduate, and hopefully someone will listen to you.

And I feel like because of that, our mind goes towards being negative. For example, in my Food and Social Change class I did a presentation on ethical meat production and half the class was cynical. They were saying things 'we can’t kill an animal ethically', 'why do we have to be nice to an animal' or that 'it is not sustainable; cows can’t graze everywhere', or that 'it is not economically feasible to be ethical'. AND THESE ARE VALID POINTS. But the thing that shocked me was that very few were like ‘Omg this is amazing, we can actually do this… there’s these problems and we can fix it :D”. Everyone was going straight towards the bad.

I know that this is critical thinking. We are taught in university to always question things and take facts and ideas with a grain of salt. But I was sad to see that no one was irrevocably on my side. It seems, as future environmental leaders, we are so quick to belittle each others’ ideas. We have this assumption of failure. And not only that, but a general acceptance of it.

If we don’t do anything to change the treatment of animals, we’ll stay in the dominant system forever. This is what ethical farms is trying to do: change the system. Yet here they are saying its not ever going to change. With that kind of mindset obviously it won’t. If we’re going to think solely on what is economically feasible, in your head, you are never going to reach beyond the threshold that the corporations are trying to stop our thinking at.

The people with the craziest ideas, those who are the most idealistic, are the ones that bring about change. Sure they live in an idealistic world, and they are not very realistic about things- like myself, I can be a little unrealistic and think “we can do this, we can change the world, this is going to happen, this is how we’ll do it”, and then think of the complications and dissect it down. But I think that it is fine to be a little delusional and to think more optimistically. We need to dream, because if no one’s a dreamer, than we’re all going to be stuck. It’s much better to have this mind set rather than starting from the bottom up and shooting down every idea that is too “out there”. Especially with environmental issues, when everything is so sad already, it’s nice to have a change, it’s nice to dream and have hope.

For example back in the day when Galileo said that the Earth was round when the dominant idea was that the Earth was flat, no one believed him. But then he made people believe, he made it possible. Or Martin Luther King when he said he had a dream, and what a wonderful dream it was, and planned to end racism-and he did a good job at that! Or when Rosa Parks stood up on the bus to say no to segregation!   

Rather than staying in the same system, we can just change it! And we can help those making the changes too.

Everyone thinks the world is going to end; that environmental protection is useless and we’re all going to die anyways. We need to stop. We need to stop thinking that way. We need to say “we can save the world if we really put our minds to it” we need to be more optimistic-especially as environmental studies students, because if we don’t believe in ourselves, if we don’t stand up to our beliefs, no one will.

I have a dream of ending animal cruelty in the food industry. Humane meat production won’t happen overnight, but it may spark a fire and a trend can occur. Everyone says that our environmental efforts will go wasted or that our little research won’t do anything, but no, it is going to do something. We can save the world- literally! People with the craziest ideas make the most profound things happen.

A few weeks ago Russell Brand did an interview were he spoke of a revolution. How our politicians aren’t helping nor are they listening to us. He spoke of supporting ecological protection and getting people off the street. The interviewer kept saying to him that it’s all talk, he’s not really doing anything. But I disagree. Sure he’s not making anything happen yet, but he’s starting the conversation. And maybe he’s being passive, but at least he has the right mindset! He doesn’t want to live in a society with so much injustice and inequality- it's what everyone's thinking. But at least he's addressing that world peace is a possibility, that we can collectively come together and make goodness happen. 

I'm a Muslim and I am a Vegan. 

Now I know that I've talked about Halal meat and how humane it is on this blog.

And I know that I've talked about Vegetarianism and how it's not for everyone. 

Let me explain myself

Naturally, being a muslim, you'd think I would gravitate towards halal meat. But, although there are many guidelines for halal meat to be as humane to the animal as possible, unfortunately, it is not carried out sufficiently enough in the West.

For example, the animals may be slaughtered well, but sometimes they are not brought up well and can fall into the same problems as organic/free range farming, such as no access to the outdoors or feeding animals growth hormones-even though this is not lawful in Islam. Also, the animal should be slaughtered by a butcher, and by hand, but in many western countries machine slaughter is becoming more popular as it is faster and requires less employees.

I do not think this is lawful in Islam since a machine cannot accurately kill the animals as humanely as outlined in the Hadith and Quran. And it completely denounces the fact that animals cannot be tied down when slaughtered.

Another issue with halal food is that it does not account to dairy and egg production, even though from my understanding of the Quran, it legally should. It also doesn't address seafood. All seafood, regardless where it comes from is halal. This is because fish die when they are taken out of the water, and so because there is no blood shed, it is considered harmless and halal. But fish can be hooked, when it isn't taken out of the sea by a net, so is that really harmless? When the fish is hooked blood is shed is it not? In addition the fish can explode if taken from deep within the water. And bycatch can occur killing many animals unnecessarily just to get the utilitarian amount of fish out f the ocean. And islam prohibits the nonessential death of any animal, even for food. 

This is why I have chosen to take the Vegan route. I am still transitioning into it, and make many mistakes... but I do hope to stick with it. Unless we can do something about enforcing halal meat and spreading the same practices to egg, dairy and seafood production, I won't feel right eating animal products. 

Ethics is knowing the difference between good and bad.

But who determines what is good or bad in society? The Government? Your Religion?

Ethical meat is described as “the care of animals kept in the service of mankind, so that their well-being is provided for, their natural needs are not restricted and their worth and dignity as individuals are recognized”

To some, the ethical treatment of animals may mean that we should not eat animals since there's no humane way to kill an animal. Therefore eating meat is unethical.

Who’s to say the current treatment of animals is unethical? And who’s to say it is not unethical? 

The problem with defining what is ethical and what is not, is that everyone has different ideas of what they think is ethical. All we have is opinion that is based on personal experiences and our backgrounds. Therefore if I think that ethical meat is a possibility, and another person thinks that it is not, who is right?

The definition of halal is what is permitted in Islam, hence halal meat is meat that is lawful. In the Quran, it states that all food is halal unless specified in the Quran, Sunnah (practices of the Islamic prophet, Mohammed) or Hadith (written traditions of the practices of the prophet).  This entails pork, dead or sick animal meat, alcohol and meat that has been unethically slaughtered:

”Forbidden unto you (for food) are: the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that hath been killed by the goring of horns, and the devoured of wild beasts” 

Halal production of meat counts towards the production, the slaughter, and the handling of meat. Halal meat production takes animal welfare and environmental sustainability into consideration. The animals cannot be starved or fed anything filthy-basically only natural food. There cannot be cross contamination with unlawful meat. Some Muslims also avoid genetically modified food because of its health affects and destruction to the environment. Muslims are asked by Allah to show respect to and to take care of the environment because nature was given to us by Allah and we should protect it from harm.

Before and during the slaughter process, animals must be treated humanely in order to be considered halal. They must be stress-free and well-nourished before they can be slaughtered. The knives used must be very sharp and the animals should not view the knife before they are killed, and no other animals should view another animal being slaughtered.

One cannot tie an animal down nor can they be tethered by their necks or legs as done in commercial factory farms. When cutting the neck, it must be done without getting to the bone, and the animal must be completely dead before it is skinned or gutted.

Now this is what I call humane meat! 

Whenever people ask me why I chose my major in university (environmental studies) I tell them it was because of this film. Back in the 12th grade, when I had to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, the only thing that came to mind was "save the world". Literally, my plan was to become some famous politician and fix all the problems in the world: feed every hungry person, get homeless people into homes, end sex trafficking, abolish racism, help with lgbqt and women's rights... literally everything. But I just didn't know how I was going to do it. And I didn't know what I was going to study to accomplish some, if not all of my superwoman goals. So one day, as I was channel surfing and writing a paper on 'Shakespeare', I found this gem of a documentary on CBC. To say my mind was blown is to put it lightly. 

Some myths: the USDA does not require the animals to be outside, just to have access to the outdoors. This means if there is a door to a barn, that is considered access, and therefore the animals are technically free range. Like Seriously????

On top of that, even though they have access, only a small amount of animals actual venture outside because they are so used to being in the barn, that they are afraid of the unknown and also, in the case of chickens, the sun is too bright and they’d prefer trees and shade along with the fresh air.

Also, the animals do not technically have to have enough space, they are just required to be cage-less.

They use this loophole so they are not obligated to take their livestock outside or use more space than what is necessary to live for these animals. For example, it is encouraged to allow 2 feet of space for poultry, yet they usually use less. 

The food industry has created a façade of ‘happy-meat’ and have endorsed the idea that the meat we buy is all well cared for, and there is no abuse put into it. They are hiding this fact and abusing their power in a way to let it show that they are not doing anything wrong. In addition, they are taking advantage of the fact that consumers are remote from their food. Free range paints this idea in your head that farms let their livestock frolic and be free, when it is usually for only a few hours a day; it is all a marketing scam.

I think the only benefit here is it creates awareness than they are giving alternate options. But overall, It is misleading as it gets you thinking of a wrong idea, and we may get caught in the trap, believing that we are spending our money somewhere good, when really we are being deceived. 

Organic meat is getting more and more popular as people learn of the better health effects and better animals welfare. In order for meat to be considered organic, the animals must be raised antibiotic and growth hormone free. There should be no use of be synthetic fertilizer or pesticide, and livestock must be fed natural food. However, these practices are loosely followed. Only 1 percent abide by these rules inspected by the USDA. To be certified organic, farm practices such as giving hormones to animals to fatten them up is to be “avoided” or “largely excluded” … and this to me does not sound very enforcing.  This sounds like suggestions that can be used depending on the producer. In addition, many of the farming practices in relation to animal welfare and cruelty still goes on in organic farms.

Organic meat does not mean there is no animal cruelty involved. It just means it's a little more healthy to consume. 

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/supply-chains/organic-food-%E2%80%93-what-%E2%80%98organic%E2%80%99-label-really-worth

http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/2012talks As President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Wayne Pacelle leads the nation's largest anima...

Ethicalfarms.org is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote animal bi-products that are cruelty free, Free-Range and organic through the promotion of farms that uphold these criteria. They promote smaller, family type farms and companies that take the steps necessary to implement humane animal treatment. They promote these products with the hope that one day these kinds of farms will be the dominant and main source for animal bi-products for people who choose to consume them.

This organization attempts to balance out the dinner plate and promote the consumption of good quality (cruelty-free, free range, and organic) animal bi-products. they are responding to the issue that some of the biggest factory farms in the US are not adhering to UDSA humane standards. torture and inhumane slaughter is happening and they attempt to stop it through raising awareness and promotion of farms and companies that practice otherwise.

After an undercover video revealed farmworkers abusing cows, DiGiorno Pizza will no longer accept cheese made with milk from that farm

My first thought: They're taking a stand, love it! 

My second thought: Maybe they've refused to buy from that supplier solely because they got exposed. Maybe if Mercy For Animals didn't go undercover, and DiGiorno knew of the cruelty imposed on the animals, they'd continue to buy it...  

*Go away second thought!* 

You'd think the most ethical/humane way to eat meat is to abstain from it completely. I sort of agree... but I also know that it is not feasible for everyone.  

Here are reasons why some people who care about animal right don't take that route. 

Health reasons: 

http://jonnybowdenblog.com/why-i-am-not-a-vegetarian/

It's not the meat-eating, it's the system that needs to change:

http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/why-im-not-vegetarian

Life and death philosophy:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/why-im-not-vegan/

Cultural Reasons:

http://journals.worldnomads.com/rubytuesday/story/100254/Argentina/Understanding-a-Culture-through-Food-Will-Eat-Meat-For-Culture#axzz2nOS3qMnk

Vegetarianism is not a cultural shift that can happen over night. People have valid reasons to eat meat, but may still care about animals cruelty. If someone’s culture relies on meat, we cannot take that away from them and tell them to change their whole lifestyle. If someone believes that they won't be at their best potential without meat, and have science to back their claim, we can't say that they are wrong.