Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Nov. 7, 2017, edition 1 / Page 12
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Questions arise regarding whether or not meat could truly be labeled as humane. Meat cannot claim to be humane under current law CATHERINE PIGG Opinion Editor cpigg@unca.edu Rolling through the meat section in the grocery store, some labels catch the consumer’s eye by claim ing to be “humanely raised meat.” While holding the meat, a car cass of a once living and breathing sentient being, the question arises: What does humane-raised meat even mean? The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Safety In spection Service does not current ly have a definition for “humanely raised.” This department holds the responsibility of ensuring the ac curacy of food labels,, yet no clear definition can be found for the la bel. The U.S. government provides an ambiguous provision for “humane” killing of animals in the meat indus try, which is the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act. This act focuses on how farms or factory farms should kill the animals, but does not set guidelines on how to raise animals in a healthy environ ment. The vague rules for slaughter es tablished by the act state the slaugh ter must be “rapid and effective” such as “a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical or oth er means.” This demonstrates how elusive companies can be when choosing a method of slaughter and still be labeled as humane. A farm worker could shoot a cow in the head with a stun gun, which shoots a bolt into a cow’s head, be tween their eyes, instantly stunning it while the cow is on a conveyer belt and still be considered humane under the HMLS Act. This tends to be one of the most popular methods. Animals could also be electrical ly stunned and labeled as humane, according to the act. If properly stunned electrically, the animal’s body will suffer from a seizure be fore death. Electric stunners tend to be used on pigs in farms, accord ing to an article written by Temple Grandin for Colorado State Univer sity. Interestingly, the HMLS Act does not apply to chickens or other birds. Avian animals have no protections or guidelines on how to be killed or kept. TryVeg, a nonprofit activist orga nization, reports more than 8 billion chickens are slaughtered annually in the U.S. for consumption. One of the most well known methods con sists of shackling chickens upside down while their throats are slit, although some birds miss the blade and instead end up being scalded alive, according to TryVeg. Its web site, TryVeg.com, offers videos of such things happening inside farms. Another method for chicken slaughter consists of stunning the birds by running them through a vat of electrified water, this meth od considered the most “humane” compared to alternatives. The re sults of this stunning do not guaran tee every chicken will be properly stunned resulting in some birds be ing boiled alive. Videos posted by People for Eth ical Treatment of Animals, Mercy For Animals and TryVeg show un dercover footage of chickens and turkeys having their heads stomped on, chickens being boiled alive and baby male chicks being ground alive as well. Since birds are not protected under the HMLS Act, this is legally considered humane in the U.S. The Animal Welfare Institute re ports animal welfare and environ mental claims such as “sustainably farmed” or “humanely treated” are approved without supporting evi dence. Eighty percent of claims by meat producers have no proof. According to a study by The Hu mane Society of the United States, 95 percent of the 280 million hens in the U.S. are confined in battery CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
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