How your food dies.

[devilsadvocate]

Disclosure
I'm a meat eater. I know that my food has to be slaughtered for me to eat it. I don't have any "meat is murder" issues, but I do care that my food is treated as humanely as possible. I haven't been hunting for many, many years, but when I used to I wouldn't take a shot unless my chances of a one shot kill were extremely good. I know some meat eaters think hunting is barbaric, but I don't.

I read about a woman in the UK that tried to return some meat to a store because she found out it might have been slaughtered using Halal slaughter. The woman wanted a refund on a religious basis, she is a Christian. I don't believe for one moment she had any concern about the way the animal suffered and I'm sure she wouldn't have had any problem eating meat from an animal slaughtered using very similar methods as they used to in my grandparent's day. I remember as a child my grandfather telling me how they would slaughter a pig by tying it's legs slitting it's throat, hanging it up, still alive and collecting the blood to make blood sausage.

Okay to the point.

I understand people that only buy free range food or farming with humanity food. I do whenever I can. But would you refuse to eat an animal you would normally eat just because the slaughter method is according to a religious law? If so is it any religion or just specific ones?

[megabyteme]

Kosher pickles rock!

[999969999]

All religions are stupid.

The woman who objected to Halal slaughtered beef was doing it for political reasons. She didn't like the idea of a store catering to the growing Islamic community. She sees them as a threat to her way of life if they continue to increase in numbers in her community.

As for the method of slaughter, it can make a difference in the taste of the meat. The quicker the animal loses consciousness, the better, not just for the animal's sake (less pain and suffering), but also for the flavor of the meat.

My family raises range fed cattle and there definitely is a difference in taste between range fed cattle and corn fed beef. Range fed beef is leaner and has a bit of a gamey taste to it.

After all the things I have personally witnessed in this business, I rarely ever eat any kind of meat anymore. I make exceptions for the Holidays, but most of the rest of the year, I'm a vegetarian. But it's a personal choice that I would never try to force on anyone else.