By: Leslie Ballentine, Farm and Food Commentator
There is a common saying among vegetarians that “If slaughterhouses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian”. Having been to all types of meat plants I disagree. And so did one of North America’s largest processing companies.
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Posted by FFC on November 21st, 2011 :: Filed under
animal handling,
Beef cattle,
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Education and public awareness,
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animals,
Consumers,
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By: Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator
One of the great things about our country is the freedom to express and defend our personal opinions. We have more venues to do so than ever before. Not so long ago I was pulled into an on-line discussion on food animal production. The discussion was prompted by a CBC radio commentary on egg production but quickly moved into animal farming and food practices in general and the need to eat animal products in the first place. Illustrating how agriculture crosses into so many issues.
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Posted by FFC on October 24th, 2011 :: Filed under
Activism,
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Speaking out,
VegetarianTags ::
activists,
animal rights,
free range,
Vegetarian
The following is reprinted with permission from the Animal Agriculture Alliance in the United States (www.animalalliance.org). For its full collection of Meatless Monday resources, visit http://animalagalliance.org/current/home.cfm?Section=Meatless_Monday&Category=Current_Issues.
The Myth of Meatless Mondays – Alleviating the Consumer’s Conscience Without Affecting Climate Change
Judith L. Capper, PhD, Washington State University
In July, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a report claiming that everybody should eat less meatand dairy products in order to mitigate climate change. It was an interesting report, not least because it recommended that if consumers were going to eat meat, they should choose “meat, eggs and dairy products that are certified organic, humane and/or grass-fed as they are generally the least environmentally damaging”. Working within the sustainability arena, I firmly believe that any production system has a role within agriculture provided that it is environmentally conscientious, economically viable and socially acceptable. However, the EWG’s promotion of organic or grass-fed systems as having a low environmental impact is ironic given that such systems actually have a greater carbon footprint per unit of meat or milk produced compared to their conventional counterparts.
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Posted by FFC on October 6th, 2011 :: Filed under
Activism,
Beef cattle,
Feeding the world,
Global Warming,
Meatless Monday,
Misconceptions,
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Sheep,
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activists,
beef,
Consumers,
environment,
meatless Monday,
misconceptions,
organic,
Research,
sheep,
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Animal Ag Alliance To Yellow Tail: Please Reconsider
02/12/2020 11:05AM
In an effort to assist Yellow Tail Wines in determining its best opportunity to help animals, the Animal Agriculture Alliance has written a letter this week to the company’s owner, Cassella Wines. Yellow Tail Wines announced last week their intent to donate $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States.
Yellow Tail’s announcement has generated considerable controversy among livestock producers and a backlash against the wine company. “The uproar over the last week has shown that you will undoubtedly lose a significant segment of your American customer base if you continue with your pledge of support for HSUS,” the letter says.
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Posted by FFC on February 16th, 2010 :: Filed under
Activism,
Consumers,
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Vegan,
VegetarianTags ::
activists,
animal rights,
Consumers,
HSUS,
misconceptions,
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BY CRYSTAL MACKAY, ONTARIO FARM ANIMAL COUNCIL, London Free Press, 2006.04.22; Letter to the Editor
Regarding the letter, Meat products harmful to the environment (April 20):
I’d like to do something crazy and write in favour of something, which seems to be out of vogue these days. Eating meat is actually good for the environment and makes ecological sense.
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Posted by FFC on July 21st, 2009 :: Filed under
Letters to the Editor,
VegetarianTags ::
environment,
Farmers,
food,
meat,
Vegetarian
Myth about calves raised in darkness hampers veal image
By Greg Burliuk, Kingston Whig-Standard, 2021.06.01
Mention the word veal and some people cringe.
“How can you eat baby cows?” was the cry I heard years ago. A British friend once told me that was why veal consumption was so low in her animal -loving country.
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Posted by FFC on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under
Consumers,
Education and public awareness,
Veal,
VegetarianTags ::
activists,
animal welfare,
meat,
Veal,
Vegetarian
By Baxter Black, Amarillo Globe News, October 16, 2020
To: Directors of HSUS, PETA, and the Farm Sanctuary
The first step in engaging an issue is to have the ability to
understand your ‘opponents’ point of view. I have watched your criticisms as we in animal agriculture have become more productive.
Your criticisms range from a distaste of raising chickens in cages to
promoting a vegan lifestyle and degrees in between.
I have visited with each of you on the telephone and I can’t paint you
all with the same brush, but I can include you in the same picture.
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Posted by FFC on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under
Education and public awarenessTags ::
activists,
animal welfare,
Consumers,
Farmers,
meat,
Vegetarian
VALERIE TAPLEY, Red and Black, GA, 7/3/08
In response to Tulsi Patel’s column “Vegetarian pleas for animals,” (June 19), first, Ms. Patel, I do applaud you for having an opinion on this issue, as so many people are apathetic about many parts of our culture today.
However, I hope you see that people like myself, who are hoping to enter the meat industry as an employee in the near future, are not writing articles in an attempt to convert vegetarians to meat-eaters.
I’m glad you have a lifestyle you’re proud of, but that doesn’t mean I want to necessarily be converted to your ways of thinking. I do grant that you are able to get an adequate intake from a vegetarian diet, so long as you watch carefully your intake of certain vitamins and proteins.
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Posted by FFC on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under
Consumers,
Education and public awareness,
VegetarianTags ::
agriculture,
livestock,
meat,
misconceptions,
PETA,
Vegetarian
Ron Eade, The Ottawa Citizen, 2021.09.06
A distressed mother sent me a plea for help the other day after discovering her 22-year-old daughter on the Internet, reading radical websites posted by animal rights activists.
As you may expect, the vitriolic hyberbole convinced her daughter to immediately stop eating meat. She, in turn, tried to convert her mother.
This misplaced sense of moral rectitude is largely due to a tsunami of misinformation that has overwhelmed our pop culture in matters concerning food. (No surprise, really, considering that a scant two per cent of Canadians today are farmers compared to more than half the population a century ago.)
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Posted by FFC on July 19th, 2009 :: Filed under
Canada,
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Family vs factory farming,
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Ontario,
Vegetarian
The Washington Times, October 17, 2020
Wendy’s coined the phrase “Where’s the beef?” in the 1980s. Today, it seems that meat is out, and more expensive soy products and supplements are in. Helped by activist groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who cry “Meat is murder,” they make Americans feel embarrassed to bite into a steak or take a swig of milk.
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Posted by FFC on July 13th, 2009 :: Filed under
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