Originally Posted by
sprintcarblue
I have various family members who have worked/or do work at CAFO's. Mainly for pork production and they do have very strict security policies, but a lot of this is due to the fact that pigs are considered bio-hazard. If you goto some other hog farm, or have been somewhere where there is a disease and bring it to a CAFO that is basically like bringing typhoid mary to a concentration camp. Wouldn't that turn out fantastically? the whole avian flue/mad cow disease thing is easier to keep under control with more strict rules.
I do agree that it is silly about the photo policies and such, but it is also a bit ridiculous when somebody sees 5000 chickens in a barn and are like "oh no, they are in such pain, i am never advocating eating meat again!" People definitely over react to a lot of the situations. Growing up on a farm raising, butchering, and consuming animals was and is a part of life. People who live away from that are detached from the food source and tend to be overly empathetic to animals.
Technically, along with these strict rules they have laws protecting the animals. I know for a fact that people HAVE gotten fired for being too rough with the animals (pigs again) and do have consequences.
Then again, I knew a kid during high school and went to a local farm and butchered several pigs with a samurai sword. Some people are just ****ty people and will always be a ****ty person. But they get what is coming to them.
As far as purity of meat, I don't see what the issue is. It is pretty easy to a local market and still purchase meat straight from a local butcher. I know a lot of people who just get one cow butchered a year and feed their family off of it. Again, quit supporting places like walmart and mcdonalds and pay extra for the quality.
its just a matter of convincing people for the right reasons in the right places
*edit* note, i am not in anyway supporting CFAO's just pointing out some stuff is there for a reason (given the situation) even though it may seem excessive.
A couple points about the "security."
- One, the concern about disease wouldn't be so great if the animals were raised in a sustainable manner. Like jails and college dorms, when you get a lot of creatures jammed together in a small place, disease outbreaks are more likely and more severe.
- Two, another reason commonly given for the "security" is a fear of "bio-terrorists endangering the food chain." Less centralized production would probably be a better safeguard against terrorism.
- Three, I suspect the real reason for the security is to prevent consumers from seeing photographic evidence of the onditions in which their food is produced, and also to cover up the environmental crimes being committed by the CAFO operators.
And a point about the humanity issue. I'm not ethically concerned with the way the animals
die. I'm concerned with the way they
live.