This Little Piggy Went To Market

I've started writing this entry five or six other times and could never get it the way I wanted so each time I aborted mission and deleted it. I'm going to try again tonight, because I feel this topic is extremely important.

I've subscribed to Rolling Stone magazine for about twenty years now, and have read lots of interesting articles. The magazine focuses mostly on music, but occasionally they will uncover a story that blows the roof off the sucka. If you don't believe that, just ask Gen. Stanley McChrystal. I will say that I do not always agree with the opinions of the magazine, as they can sometimes be a bit extreme.

So a few years ago, I read one of these really "big" expose' articles. Once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. But the whole time I kept thinking, "I'm going to wish I'd never read this". The article was about the pork industry in the United States; one Big Company in particular.

If you buy pork at the grocery store, chances are you are buying this company's meat. I know I did, for many, many years. Well, after I read the article I avoided this brand of pork for a couple of weeks, but then the memory started to fade and I just decided I would bury what I had read way back in the corner of my brain somewhere, and went right back to buying it. After all, it's readily available at my neighborhood grocery store, it's quite delicious and it's cheap. Cheap and Convenient; just the way we Americans like it, right?

Well recently I decided to revisit the article. I couldn't find the issue, so I wondered what would happen if I just googled the subject. Wow! A lot happened, that's what. Wikipedia even makes mention of it. You see, behind every pretty little plastic wrapped package of this company's meats are some dirty little secrets that insatiable American consumers, hungry for pork and starving for a bargain, really don't want to hear.

Smithfield has been fined millions of dollars by the EPA for polluting water sources with the tons and tons of fecal matter it dumps. They have come under fire for the gestation crates in which sows spend their entire lives, unable to stand up or even move. PETA is all over them, with numerous incidents of animal cruelty that are too sick to write about. One case being a group of ladies who said they relieved their frustrations and laughed as they tortured male piglets. But the serious enviornmental hazards caused by mass production and disposal of fecal matter are the biggest concerns. The statistics are jaw dropping.

I don't want to wake up tomorrow to find a severed hog's head in my bed, so I'm not taking it any further. Maybe you don't believe what I'm saying is true. After all, some of it is being challenged by the company, who says the Rolling Stone article contains some "half truths". But I challenge you to this; if you are going to eat the meat this, or any other company produces, take a few minutes to do some investigating. Go online and do the research yourself. You won't have any problem at all finding a plethora of information on the subject. If you want to read the stuff I'm too chicken to print, try this for starters, it will blow your mind: http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/boss-hog-rolling-stone-on-smithfield/
(sorry, I can never figure out how to insert links in this blog, you'll have to copy and paste)

Let me say that I am not an animal activist. I like animals just fine, but I do believe that certain animals were put on this earth for human consumption. With that being said, I also believe farm animals should be raised in a clean, healthy environment, and treated humanely. I have enough stress in my life, I don't need to ingest the karma of some stressed out animal!

Now that I have found other sources, I have not purchased any commercially produced pork (or any other type of meat) in several months, and I will not waiver on this again. There are farmer's markets everywhere this time of year. No doubt, the meat is more expensive, but I know where it comes from. I've visited the farm, I know the farmers. Hell, I even know the pigs! And that's the whole point. The information is out there. There's a universe of it right at our fingertips, so take a minute to know where your food is coming from, no matter what farm or company produces it. Then, if you still want to buy it--more power to you; at least you know what you and your family are eating.