Saturday
Dec182010
How Now Dead Sow?
Saturday, December 18, 2010 at 4:52PM How odd that we, as a moral nation, would convict Michael Vick for cruelty to animals (and rightfully so!), yet we never think twice about the meat on our dinner tables. How did it get there from birth through slaughter? We don’t seem to care. Or do we?
WARNING!
This video is not for the weak-minded. It shows Smithfield’s inhumane treatment of mother pigs in one of their plants. If you don’t have the stomach for it, don’t watch it. Better yet, don’t eat pork from Smithfield. Write to them instead.
Scott Modica
Smithfield Foodservice Group
111 Commerce Street
Smithfield, VA 23430
1-800-444-5226
Ask him why.
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Reader Comments (22)
Dave, thank you for putting this up for all to see. I watch Jane Valez Mitchell on HLN and these animals are shown on her show. It makes me so sick to see the way we treat animals. I hardly ever eat pork or beef but from now on never will I eat either. Thank you again.
When I saw the video earlier today, Carol, I was saddened. I've always had a soft spot for pigs - REAL ONES - because we raised 4 of them when I was a pre-teener living on a farm. I was heartbroken when I went out to see them one day and they were gone.
To me, this is the silent cruelty to animals most people don't want to consider or think about, but it is all too real. I don't watch JVM because she shouts all the time, but it's good to know she feels the same way. Thanks.
Hi Dave,
I could not bear to look at the video because I have already heard too much about the inhumanity of factory farming. However, since you thoughtfully provided a name and address and this was a convenient time to write I wrote a letter which I will mail on Monday. I feel rather nauseous right now, I just can't emotionally handle things when I hear about Michael Vick or the institutionalized cruelty of factory farming. Things like that make Casey Anthony look like an innocent angel and people like Ted Bundy look a little more like decent citizens in comparison to the farming profiteers.
I am giving a preview of my letter in case you think I should change it before I send it on Monday:
Dear Mr. Modica
I have heard for a long time that the factory farms operated for Smithfield are among the worst but I just saw your address on my favorite BLOG and decided to write you immediately.
I think that what Smithfield is doing is morally abhorrent. I don’t want to hear why. I just hope and pray that one day that you and your company will see the light and start to behave in a more morally acceptable way.
Needless to say, I will never knowingly buy another Smithfield product. I do not want to do anything that furthers your financial incentive to continue inhumane practices which should put the worst serial murderers to shame.
I hope that you have a happy holiday season and that the spirit of peace will enlighten your heart.
Sincerely,
Dave - I had to by pass the video. Those thoughts stay too long in my mind. I am a vegan and this is one of the reasons why. If you ever read the ingredients that Smithfield puts in their meats, all in the name of 'flavor', you'd put the product down and never pick up another unnatural piece of pork put out by this company. A very well known lady chef (I won't mention her name) puts her face and name on Smithfield products. I wish these food companies would jump on the bandwagon and change the way they raise our food. Organic, free-range, no steroids, no hormones, no anti-biotics is the current wave. A more humane environment for animals before they go to slaughter. If going vegetarian, or vegan is too harsh of a life style, then there are farmers all around that raise their food organically and understand that a less stressful environment is better for the animal, which makes it better for us when we eat the animal. Our local supermarkets carry organic meats. I know the companies that do a good job keeping their animals in a good range-free environment. So many companies see now that the public has a conscience about it now - more than ever. And they want to feed their families well. It doesn't cost that much more to feed your family with products free of pestisides, hormones, steroids, and anti-biotics. And - it's NOT necessary to torture the animals to mass produce a food product. I know that was your point. I'm glad you posted this Dave. I hope I didn't overstep any rules or come across in the wrong way. I wasn't always vegan. Just in the last few years, but all of a sudden one day, I had a conscience about it. Happy Holidays to you and your family.
That's a very thoughtful letter, Amber. I hope that Mr. Modica sits up and takes notice. I, for the life of me, cannot understand how someone, in good conscience, allow animals to suffer like that. It's downright disgusting. Those poor pigs can't move. It sickens me.
Thank you for sharing your letter. I don't think I ever want to eat a ham sandwich again.
I know who that lady is, nymima, and she should know that this terrible treatment will not go unnoticed. If I could ever put something positive on living with diabetes, it would have to be that I eat less meat and lots more vegetables now. I still like meat, but it's not as appetizing as it used to be and I'm sure the inhumane treatment and chemicals had something to do with it subconsciously. No, you didn't overstep your bounds at all. If anything, I did, but it's something I felt was necessary to tell. Thanks, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a vegan.
Dave~~I am another one who has to bypass the video. The images are much too barbaric and get etched in my mind. I was raised on a mini farm and my folks fattened up a couple pigs each year. I recall that the pigs got spoiled and my mother would be in tears when they were put down, fast and painless. We also raised chickens and had our own eggs. The chickens would grace our table for Christmas and Sunday dinners. They were free range. My best buddy was a brown chicken who died of old age. I was even bossy back then. No one was gonna eat Henry. Henry was a girl chicken.
I watched a program where chickens were stuffed into wire mesh crates and loaded on board a truck. By the time they reached the slaughter house, a great number of them had suffocated. It is my understanding, the dead ones got dipped in that secret batter and were deep fried, right along with the others. That did it for me.
The bottom line takes priority and too hell with the suffering these animals go through. I hope more people make their voices heard and they boycott these money grabbing inhumane businesses such as Smithfield's.
People should ask the butcher at the supermarket, how much formaldhyde is in the chicken they purchase. The formaldhyde makes the chicken nice and white and more appetizing. Red dye is added to old hamburger to make it look fresher. They generally just spray the dye on the top of the hamburger in the meat trays. Take it out of the pkg and turn it over and check to see what color it really is.
When my son was a teenager, he came home one day with this little baby black pig. Hesaid they could not find the mother and that the pig was on highway. I said o.k. feed him a couple of weeks and get him older and he would have to go. In a weeks time that pig thought he was a dog. he and the dogs had a great old time, if they could catch back door open, here came the dogs with one black pig right behind them. We got many a laugh out of that pig. Well he finally got his own pen and house. We buried " Arnold" fourteen years later with his sunglasses, he loved to wear his sunglasses. Arnold taught us to have a lot of respect for helpless animals.Now does anyone need two chickens? My granddaughters classroom had a project for hatching eggs at school, I now have two chickens.Do chickens live fourteen years?"
Snoopy and Margaret - I have to tell you about my pet chicken sometime. I enjoyed your stories, too, but right now, it's late and I am tired. Tomorrow!
This little piggy went to market....Couldn't bear to watch the video...my imagination ran rampant, so opted out...When I lived in NY a while back we were just blocks from a pig farm...always wanted to go there but never made it...It was located next to a creek and it seemed thatwhenever they flushed the pens we would have this thick gooey oozy stuff come floating by...Can't say that it was odoriferious but it just looked as though it stunk to high heaven...Now let me tell you that the chicken farm was something else...One could smell it a mile away...I must say that I love my mojo pork, pork chops, pickled pig feet just about everything PIG except Hogs Head Cheese...Inhumanities will take place in all sorts of slaughter houses and animal farms...I have cut back on my consumption of meat, but I do still partake on occassion...It is hard not to think about autrocities...just like the first time one ate escargot...I have to admit I did just about gag thinking about slimy slugs crawling across my sidewalk...Once past the thoughts and now concentrating on the fabulous chewy garlic flavor an "ahmmmm" delicious memory comes to mind...Just don't give me any liver!!!
Dave, a long time ago I came across something similar but has to do with cattle. This is the link to my old blog.
DJ Extreme-Seashell
Scroll down and play the video tittled "Judgment".
Sean
Good Morning Dave,
I did not watch the video. I don't have to because I have seen similar one's before and can't get them out of my mind. What kind of people can be so cruel to anything living? It all boils down to money doesn't it? I was a vegetarian for three years. I eat very little meat now mainly because I am not that fond of it but I believe man was meant to eat meat or we would not have the teeth we have. I don't object to anyone eating meat but I do object to the inhumane treatment of animals of any kind. Man is God's guardians to the animals and expects us to care for them. God gave us food animals but I do not think He would want any of them treated cruelly. I have bred mini horses and dogs for almost thirty years. I used to have goats and chickens too. They have always been treated like part of the family. I personally could not raise an animal for meat. Once they have a name I wouldn't be able to eat them. I wish the animals could at least be put down in a humane manner.
I don't know if it is true but I heard that Kentucky Fried Chicken is now just KFC because they have genetically altered the chickens so much that they don't have feathers and barely look like a real chicken anymore. They force feed them so that they grow incredibly fast that they can barely move because they are so fat. They go from birth to pan in about five weeks. Hope I got it right.
About a year ago Rolling Stone mag did an expose story on Smithfield and the atrocities that this company gets away with and that our gov't lets them get away with. Planes can not fly within a certain height due to the obnoxious killer fumes that emit into the air. Since then I have banned ever purchasing a product from Smithfield. I also haven't eaten KFC since learning about the inhumane way they treat their chickens either. The cruelty of people amazes me.
Estee, sorry I wasn't around much today. My sister and her husband are leaving for Maui on Tuesday and won't be back until the 6th. Lucky them. She is an excellent cook and we ate squash bisque with homemade bread, plus our own artichokes.
That video is tough to watch and I hope my warning was enough for the squeemish. Are you sure you meant high heaven, or did you mean hog heaven?
I must say I do like mojo pork, especially when it's a whole pig cooked in an open pit, but that was a long time ago. I've also eaten wild boar. There are lots of them on the east coast, near the cape.
One of the things I learned in college was in one of my English classes. It was in "Language in Thought and Action" by S.I. Hayakawa, who was a premier semanticist in his day. He really pointed out the power of words. Instead of snails, you ate a fancy French name, escargot, which made it more palateable. Another of his examples was the simple hamburger. Although hamburger is not a high class word, it sounds much more appetizing than eating a chopped up dead cow sandwich. By the way, tonight's dinner was vegetarian, but that's just because it's what my sister prepared.
EGADS, Sean, just the first minute of that video was enough for me. I'll have to take a closer look at your old blog, though.
Hi, Frankie - Yes, it all broils, I mean boils, down to money and it's about time we gave those giant food conglomerates a grilling. Sorry for the pun, but they should be skewered for some of their barbaric methods used to slaughter animals.
There are several rumors about Kentucky Fried Chicken, but the most prevalent one about why they changed to KFC was because of the negative connotation of the word "Fried" in their name. Fried in fat. Not good. Gastronomically incorrect, so to speak.
Hi, Patti O - I didn't know anything about Smithfield until this video and I have a whole different attitude about the company now. As for KFC, I can't eat fried chicken anymore. It rips me apart. It's got to be the grease. If you think about chicken wings, they are fatty, the are covered with skin, which is mostly fat, they are deep fried in fat, and they are coated with a sauce made with butter, margarine or some other oleo blend as a good part of the recipe. That's fat X fat X fat. I still love them, but I can't and won't eat them like I did in the past, before I got old and diabetic.
Dave,
I am not a vegeterian, but seeing all the latest animal videos to feed the public is disgusting. Beginning to think veggies are looking a lot better, than slaughtering these poor animals.What a pathetic way to treat these poor creatures. IIt is so sad. Jane Velez is an absolute animal activist and have seen some of her programs. She is totally dedicated to her venue. So much respect for her. I think she is right on track. We, as humans need to have some consideration to the food we ingest. Can't wiat for the next interesting blog from you. On another note, let's see what Baez is going to whine about today in court. That smirk on his face is going to leave shortly, I hope! The game is over for him and his crew. Casey will have to pay for what happened to Baby Caylee. I know the law is "Innocent, until proven Guilty," but in this case the evidence is so obvious that a child could figure it out. Thanks, again, until next time.
Hi, simba - I'm not a vegetarian, either, but I find myself eating less and less of it. It's not as important to me as it used to be. When I eat a steak, it's only a fraction of what I used to enjoy. I wasn't aware of JVM's activism. Hey, more power to her.
I will be in the courtroom today, and then I'll write about it, probably tomorrow.
WOW, many comments regarding the "unappatizing" aspects of human consumption but its interesting you bring this particular subject up especially with what has came out with Michael Vick. I by no means condone his actions and he has paid for his actions but should we judge? The dogs that were used in "sport" were bred for this; it doesnt soften it in anyway as you are using dogs to kill each other for entertainment and gambling but as a society geared towards forgiveness shouldnt Mr. Vick be dotted upon with forgiveness? What he did was wrong but we should not be so pretentious. This subject was addressed just this week in our radio market and 99% still wanted his head! I myself do not know everything surrounding his case, i know he did some jail time. He had to pay fines. He left the NFL and has since returned and, from what i have seen, is doing a fantastic job. He will carry with him the guilt and shame i dont think society needs to continuously point it out.
But when you look at it like the way your trying to show (i think) we shold not be so judgemental. I know where my food comes from and i have no desire to see how it is processed. i hear the horror stories and although i may have second thoughts I still eat. I think as a species we are kind and loving and, in regards to food processing, we are not very wasteful. The majority of ALL animals used for human consumption is used, very little wasted. Beit lipstick or chapstick we are all guilty to some sort of animal cruelty ratheritd be directly or indirectly.
I'm the first to admit I like my steak medium rare, and have no desire to stop eating meat.