A little rant about beef...

Have you ever thought, as you bite into that juicy burger, "Hmm, wonder if this one was a downer?" Probably not. You think of a cow grazing green pastures happily until one day it is his turn to become lunch.

Unfortunately, that is not often how it goes. Espcially if you order that burger off of a value meal somewhere.

And up until last year, sometimes the cow you were eating was a downer. What is a downer?

Wikipedia says "A downer is an animal, usually livestock, that is unable to stand on its own and therefore is to be killed."

The EPA says, "A cow unable to arise due to disease or injury."

Sometimes they are frozen to the metal of a transport truck, sometimes they are injured in transit or on the stock yard, sometimes they are just sick. But just because they are down, it didn't mean the cow producers considered them out. Out of meat production, that is. They just have to be shocked or dragged or some other way forced to the slaughtering facility. And then someone, somewhere, gets to be the one to eat THAT burger. Sounds yummy huh?

Thanks to President Obama, downers are not allowed in the food supply anymore. Thank you Barak!! These cows have led to outbreaks of numerous diseases, including Mad Cow, because the cows wallow in their own feces.
According to MSNBC:
"A partial ban on downer cows was already in place; it resulted from the nation's first case of mad cow disease, in 2003.
But there was a loophole. If a cow collapsed after passing inspection, government inspectors allowed the animal into the food supply if it had an acute injury, such as a broken leg, but showed no signs of central nervous disorder that might indicate the presence of mad cow disease."

(This photo is from China, but is probably not all that different from the cramped quarters American facilities have)

Then last year in March Obama totally banned the practice, no matter when the cow went down. But you know, this story still scares me. It scares me that the people in charge of our food supply were not able to figure this one out. They were so blinded by greed that they were willing to horribly abuse animals AND then process tainted meat to be fed to humans. Just because there is a new ban doesn't mean there isn't a now loophole too.

My point here is that it is easy to mock groups like PETA. I saw a bumper sticker just yesterday, "People EAting Tasty Animals" Ha Ha. But even though groups like PETA can be extreme, they are charged with a VERY hefty task. Enlightening people who don't want to be elightened about something that happens where almost none of us can see it. And it is something so horrible that almost none of us can believe it. It goes against all that we have known, and against the whole history of the Western World. It breaks with what many feel is the foundation of our culture. I myself was asked, after becoming a vegetarian, how I could do such a thing here in "cattle country". I have been told you can't be healthy without meat. I have been told I MUST drink milk. But it isn't true. 
I was also told I should be supporting local farmers. And I shot back that I would be happy to, but as they do not sell the meat of the animals raised humanely and locally in any accessible way, I am simply going to have to forgo meat. But you know what, times are a-changing in that respect. More and more locally raised, organic, cruelty free options are out there. I wouldn't go back to meat eating now even in this way, but if you can't quiet give up meat, you can make better choices. Does it cost more? Sure. But think about what you are paying for and what you are skimping on when you buy the cheaper meat. If you want details on that go to the PETA website and look around awhile. Educate your self and I guarantee you will rethink the way you eat.
Or not, the choice is up to you.