Slaughterhouses & Hygiene

http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=9091&catId=1

It was recently discovered that one in four UK slaughterhouses failed to meet required hygiene standards. Of 323 slaughterhouses in the UK, 86 of them allowed meat with E.Coli, salmonella, and other bacteria to be sold to the public. It was also discovered that information was falsified in order to pass food safety standards. Basically, another nail in the coffin of the meat industry.

Basic hygiene is not something that should be overlooked and further proves that animals in these situations are regarded very poorly. How can you operate a business with absolutely no regard for the basic needs of the "product" you are selling? As if it isn't bad enough that the animals live in filth and abhorrent conditions prior to being slaughtered but let's add insult to injury with the lack of hygiene when processing the meat. Knowingly selling meat contaminated with virus' and bacteria is disgusting business practice and also demonstrates how money fuels everything. These businesses don't care about the animal's health or the health of the consumers.

If it isn't a slaughterhouse, it's a factory farm committing some sort of indecency to animals. All of these stories emerging about the quality of lives of the animals housed in these facilities are not shocking in the least. Animals in the meat industry are nothing more than products, no different than produce at the supermarket as far as these companies are concerned and things need to change.

There needs to be much heavier monitoring of these facilities and regular visits and facility tours to ensure the animals are being kept in acceptable conditions. Strict penalties must accompany any discovery of animal neglect, food contamination, unsanitary living conditions / processing equipment, or any significant issue involving animal welfare or quality assurance. 1 in 4 slaughterhouses were deemed unacceptable to standard, that's far too high a number and indicates that they are not being monitored heavily enough.

There are 2 solutions here;

1. MONITOR, TOUR, AND PENALIZE these facilities. There should never be contaminated meat available to the public. There should never be animals living in filth. There should never be unsanitary conditions. There should never be fabrication to pass food safety requirements. This is all happening because they are not being watched as best they should be. It's time to step up and set the bar high demonstrating that this animal neglect and poor quality from start to finish will not be tolerated.
   
2.  Shut them all down and force everyone to give up meat. This one might be a pipe dream though ;)

HAPPY VEG