Ah, Sunshine and Slaughter!

I am currently reading a great book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I strong-armed from my wife. There is a great chapter about a farmer, Joel Salatin, who owns an ecologically responsible farm known as Polyface Farm. Polyface is on the cutting edge of environmental friendliness, but with this particular post I wanted to focus on animal slaughter. Mr. Salatin wants to set up an abattoir (a place to kill helpless animals) on his farm, but low and behold, the USDA will not allow that. He currently kills chickens on his farm, as the USDA grants an exception to kill a certain number of chickens a year, and his chickens are cleaner than those that you purchase in a supermarket. His chicken killing operation is open to the public; anyone can come and watch. This is enough to keep things clean. I wanted to write a post about his troubles with the government, but he did it for me.

I personally think eating meat is wrong for moral reasons, but for those who like to eat the flesh of dead things, you would think farms like Polyface would be a blessing. It seems to me that slaughterhouses should be open to the public. If security concerns are the hang up, could there at least be web cams on the kill floor? Wouldn’t the court of public opinion keep these places cleaner that the USDA ever could? I am sure these places have nothing to hide, right?