Big Mac, Anyone?

I see from this article that the US Department of Agriculture is going to recall 143 million pounds of beef "processed" by a slaughterhouse accused of mistreating animals. That amounts to 2 hamburgers for every man, woman and child in the USA! When I read this, I was starting to get a bit giddy trying to get my head around how much meat this slaughterhouse must produce in a year, but it seems the recall dates back to February 2006. It appears that "the great majority" of the meat has probably been eaten already. It's unclear from the article whether all the meat was distributed within the USA

It seems that in January, the Humane Society of the United States accused Hallmark/Westland of abusing "downed" cattle, releasing video that showed workers kicking cows, jabbing them near their eyes, ramming them with a forklift and shooting high-intensity water up their noses in an effort to force them to their feet for slaughter. Cattle that have lost the ability to walk are not supposed to enter the food chain unless they have been examined to rule out chronic illnesses.

All this reminded me of a post I wrote a long time ago about Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'm proud to say I haven't had a carry out from them since.

I'm not so proud to admit that I'm still a carnivore and telling myself that the animals "don't feel a thing".