Like I Said, Spinach Isn’t the Culprit

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote Spinach Isn’t the Culprit, and referred to Nina Planck’s NYT Op-ed, which explains how to reduce the risk of E. coli (change the cows’ diet from grain to grass and hay for a week prior to slaughtering them). And yesterday, as if that original article never existed, Libby Sander of the NYT reports in Source of Deadly E. Coli Is Found, that, shocker, it came from the cow operations. Somehow (that part’s a bit fuzzy).

What I’m surprised by, is why anyone’s surprised that feeding cows an unnatural diet (grain rather than forage), keeping them in conditions that are unnatural, and trying treat all of their waste before it ends up in the water, wouldn’t be a recipe for all kinds of disaster.

And what completely confounds me, is why anyone would want to eat the product of all that? What part of that sounds healthy or wholesome, or . . . sane?

Though it’s tempting to say, "Wow, that is gross. I’ll avoid all that by buying free-range beef," there is another consideration. Even on the off chance that the producer you purchase from really is free-range and the cows are allowed to spend some time outdoors,

"[they will still be] subjected to excruciating mutilations without painkiller or analgesic, such as castration, branding, dehorning, tail-docking, and tooth-grinding. Once they are fattened to market weight, they are trucked to slaughterhouses. They are denied food, water, and adequate protection from extreme temperatures once in the vehicles, and many die during the trip. [Free-range] cows, sheep, and pigs are still slaughtered in the same violent ways as factory-farmed animals: They are pushed through narrow chutes, hung upside down on conveyor belts, and have their throats slit; some are dismembered while still fully conscious."

If you want to do what’s best for your health, the environment, the animals, and perhaps most important, your karma, I see no viable alternative. Eating meat has no upside, other than, for some of us, a charred, medium-rare filet mignon medallion can be yummy (did I lose at least half of you with that last detail?). But once your brain kicks in and recognizes the taste as flesh and blood, however, the yumminess quickly disappears.

Bon appetit!