How are farm animals bred for meat killed today?

by mia_b 11 Replies latest watchtower medical

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  mia_b

  I was discussing with my husband how im happy to eat meat as long as its not game (venison, partridge etc) because i cant get the "no blood" out of my belief system yet and i know that game isn't bled.

  He asked me - how do you think farm animals are killed today?

  My answer - a metal bolt shot through the skull into the brain causing instant death - i understand from seeing programs that this is the practice in the uk anyhow, and we try to buy british - it helps the local economy more.

  So how is the meat bled asks my husband? they don't slit the throat - its dead. it just gets hung for a while, cut up and sent out to supermarkets. Most supermarket meat, according to him, isn't hung long anyhow - thats why its so red, if it had been hung it would look browner.

  Does that mean that i was bought up eating unbled meat and all my jw family are all unknowingly practicing the eating of blood?

  how can i find out?
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  mrsjones5

  I don't think it's really possible to get all of the blood out of the meat we eat. But I could be wrong.
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  greendawn

  Unpleasant though this whole issue may be: the stunning (with electricity or bolt) is not supposed to kill the animal but render it unconscious so that hopefully when it is slaughtered it will feel no pain. Surely it does have its throat cut and dies of blood loss. However Halal and Kosher procedures do not go through the stunning phase. Also chickens are just slaughtered usually en mass.
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  Sad emo

  As far as I know, pigs aren't pre-stunned because their blood carries parasites which can transfer to humans so they have to be bled as fully as possible (normally there can be a time delay between death and bleeding so clots form). They are hung by the back legs and throats cut.

  chickens are also slaughtered and bled very quickly as they're usually on a production line - hung up by the feet, passed over an electric current, throats slit and eviscerated - hopefully after they're fully dead

  The things we'd rather not know ....
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  mrsjones5

  But even if a pig is bled correctly that still doesn't mean the meat is safe since the parasite can also live in the muscles/meat.
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  Leolaia

  Regulations for the UK:

  http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1995/Uksi_19950731_en_13.htm
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  mia_b

  cheers guys - i thought hubby probably wasn't right.
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  greendawn

  He is definetely wrong, meat even halal or kosher meat (animals are just slaughtered without stunning) is red because not nearly all blood can be removed by slaughtering. Pigs are also stunned and any parasites they contain are easily killed by thorough cooking, who eats raw pork anyway?
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  Little Drummer Boy

  I was discussing with my husband how im happy to eat meat as long as its not game (venison, partridge etc) because i cant get the "no blood" out of my belief system yet and i know that game isn't bled.

  Speeaking of your venison comment, this is absolutely, completely wrong. They ARE bled. Deer are usually hung (by the hind legs) for many days to tenderize and bleed out. It has to be done immediately after the kill. They must be dressed properly and with care or the meat is ruined; for one reason because of the deer's scent glands. If the wrong parts are nicked during dressing, large portions of the meat become inedible. That is why the dressing is done quickly and well. This is at least how it is done where I am from.
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  Sad emo

  But even if a pig is bled correctly that still doesn't mean the meat is safe since the parasite can also live in the muscles/meat.

  Very true Mrs Jones - I think that might be why, like Greendawn said, you have to be extra careful when storing and cooking pork. I found out about the parasite thing when I was doing a postal Bible study course with Seventh Day Adventists (I stopped studying when they started asking for money!). They apparently don't eat pork (?) and said that's why God had strictly banned it in the Law (storage problems = more parasite).