The Carnivore's Responsibility

Horror stories leaking out of America's largest factory farms from Cargill to Tyson are enough to turn the stomach of even the most voracious carnivore. Regardless of your eating ethos, you are likely to agree with the majority of the population who would like to think the meat on their plate was not skinned alive, laced with hormones and antibiotics or subjected to unnecessary suffering.

Unfortunately, over 99% of meat in the US is produced in large factory farms where NGOs have unearthed brutal footage of factory farm workers reduced to sadism to deal with their daily reality of killing. Workers administering daily beatings, bludgeoning pregnant sows with a wrench and ramming an iron pole a foot deep into a mother pig's rectums and vaginas are just a few examples on a list of what is wrong with our meat-producing industry.

The USDA, the federal agency charged with enforcing human as well as sanitary slaughter, has been toothless in protecting carnivorous consumers from both unhealthy meat as well as complicity in creating unnecessary suffering on a mass scale.  Strong-armed by industrial farming lobbies, USDA inspectors have lacked the capacity, transparency and will to provide a real countercheck to large corporations.

According to industry experts, the free-range label should provide no more peace of mind than "all-natural," "fresh," or "magical." The USDA does not have a definition of free-range for laying hens but rather accepts producer testimony alone.(Foer, 2009)  Similarly, one of the USDA's criteria for organic requires that animals "have access to the outdoors." Yet, a screened window has been accepted as fulfilling this requirement thereby rendering it meaningless. The USDA's inability to fulfill its mandate to ensure humane slaughter castes serious doubts on its ability to fulfill its second mandate to protect consumers from unsanitary or infected meat.

A tinny glimmer of hope came with this month's announcement that the USDA has finalized regulations that will give consumers increased confidence that milk and meat bearing the "Certified Organic" label have been produced in ways that actually benefit people, animals and the environment. For example, the new rules set to take effect this month, require that livestock must have year round access to the outdoors and be on pasture a minimum of 120 days.

While these new rules only influence a small sector of the meat industry, they demonstrate that the demands of informed consumers (in this case 14,000 letter-writers) can create rapid change. Those of us who choose to eat meat must therefore accept the responsibility that meat-eating brings by demanding better regulation, knowing where our meat is produced, and being willing to pay the real price of meat production (yes, that means no more $1.99 burgers).

To participate in the discussion on how to improve ethical labeling attended the first international conference on ethical certification (www.theinsource.com).

For more information refer to Temple Grandin's industry wide audit of the meat industry or Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.