Eating meat cannot be justified in any way. I am surprised at the editior's choice - if you wish to know, meat is terrible for the environmnet too.

Udaybalki

John Wrangler and the Humane Society - Thank you for exposing our worst nightmare at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. You have done our nation a great service.

We are all upset about the treatment of these animals. This story is not about convincing everyone around us to become vegetarian. It is about how we need to hold companies accountable for their treatment of animals.

We can all agree that what Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. has been doing is wrong and inhumane. We must stop pointing fingers at the meat eaters and point them to the real source of the issue - the USDA's lack of enforcement and ambivalence to the treatment of animals. We must come together as a society and push our government for stronger and much more humane legislation for the treatment of animals that become our food supply.

I recently viewed the film "Fast Food Nation" in which many of the views expressed here were gtaphically presented. How many remember that author Upton Sinclair had also taken a job in a Chicago slaughter house and wrote "The Jungle" from his experiences there. However, his purpose in writing the book was to portray the plight of the immigrant workers in the industry. However, the public became more concerned over his descriptions of the unsanitary, inhumane conditions of the place where he worked. This outrage resulted in the enactment of The Pure Food And Drug Act. The author later commented "I wrote the book hoping to hit public's hearts but hit their stomachs instead."

painful disease so treatment of it can be researched may qualify. Cheap meat, eggs and milk however are definitely NOT a justification for torture.

If not for the courageous efforts of undercover investigator (HSUS) these instances of blatant animal cruelty would have never been exposed. Likewise, if there were no "threat to humans" (the species who inflicts and condones these abuses), this film would have never made it to mass media. Animal advocates know this from decades of pleading for the billions of animals who suffer unspeakable terror, pain and brutal death in the miles and miles of steel and concrete killing dungeons that operate legally, and funded by government in our nation. Congress has no benefit from helping the animals, in veiw of the fact that these huge AgriBusiness Animal Abusers put money in the pockets of our so=called "public servants." What a laugh, if it were not so deadly serious for the animals who are condemned to this barbaric, non-compassionate system.

"eating meat may require no justification

but torturing animals does"

I disagree. Torturing animals can't be justified.

All news reports on this issue omit an relevant fact, this recall and all other food, drug, and product recalls... are voluntary. No government agency has the authority to force a recall. Why did Westland/Hallmark Meat agree to this voluntary recall? Because it is a sweeping recall for all product produced and distributed over the last two years. In short, the food had already been consumed. This meat packing plant supplies bulk purveyors of food. Not grocery stores. No need to look in your freezer. The only food this company will actually have to recall is probably the last few weeks of delivery. So in that sense, the whole sensationalist aspect of the "largest recall in history," is simply a fraud perpetrated on a frightened public.

Regulations would require them to get the on site veterinary inspector when confronted with a downer cow. Didn't the inspector notice that he was never getting the call? Was he like the Maytag repairman? Suspicious in the least. You would assume the USDA would have the numbers down. Out of every batch, they could expect 2 downers. An inspector, armed with simple predictive statistics, should be able to know that tricks were being played. Is our USDA so lame as to not have this information?

The USDA is in the business of promoting and supporting the very business that they are supposed to regulate. This needs to change.

There is something particularly depressing about the end of these living beings. Ethically, we have lost our way.

What makes you think anybody DOESN'T realize that? EVERYONE does. These sorts of questions only have meaning in what they reveal about those asking them, since that actual answers are so completely obvious to everyone, and I do mean literally everyone.

As I understand it the laws forbidding slaughtering downed cattle for food were created in reaction to the British Mad Cow disease epidemic. We still aren't really testing our meat supply for prion diseases--this is plain stupid. The beef industry is in total denial about the possibility of Mad Cow in America. Or more cynically, they realize it's here, and just don't want to let the cat out of the bag.

My husband is vegetarian, born and raised, and doesn't mind that I eat meat from time to time. I don't mind that he doesn't. :-) We eat veg at home, and sometimes I eat the flesh when we go out. My grandfather raised cattle, so I am realistic about where my dinner comes from.

So I'm curious, what do non-vegan vegetarians think ought to be done with dried-up milk-cows? You do realize that there is no world in which they live out their lives on green pastures and die in their sleep, right? At least no world in which milk continues to be commercially available. Cows can live up to around 25 years; only a fraction of that time are they able to be milked.

is the flaw in the logic REALLY so beyond the grasp of the mental capacities of most people?

They clearly are politically connected (selling meat to the school lunch program and getting USDA inspectors with blinders on). Who are they?

Firstly, I want to say that the video was disgusting, and such practices are an abomination to any civilized person. There is no need for such cruel and inhumane practices in order to slaughter or process meat. Supposedly we made progress since Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" (circa 1910 or so? I read it in Junior High, which was a long time ago too), but several successive Republican "deregulation" administrations have gutted the USDA, to all of our detriment. It's bad enough you can't eat a rare hamburger safely anymore -- we are indeed lucky we have not had any incidence of mad cow disease.

Someone mentioned the great writer and animal behaviorist, Temple Grandin -- I'd like to add the link to her site: www.grandin.com. Before you indulge some huge knee jerk "And I will never eat meat AGAIN!" tirade, I wish all of you would read her wise words about animals, and humane methods of slaughter. Autistic herself, and unusually sensitive to both people and animals who cannot communicate their fears, Ms. Grandin has designed some very innovative and intelligent systems for slaughterhouses, which need to be more widely adapted.

As far as the inspector here (a hero in my eyes) and the USDA: it seems obvious what is needed are STANDARDS, a government that will prosecute offenders and adequate numbers of inspectors with CLOUT who conduct thorough RANDOM inspections of plants. Cameras will do nothing, and corrupt processors (a minority I suspect, but still) will damage them or otherwise try to work around them. You need honest inspectors and real CONSEQUENCES to anyone who violates the law -- this is our food supply, for god's sake.

For those who are squeamish, but still prefer to eat meat, there are several options, and they don't cost 4 times more than the supermarket. For starters, if you live in an urban area you probably have access to a Kosher market or butcher shop: Kosher meat MUST be slaughtered in a humane way under rabbinical supervision. Because of this, the large processing plants are not possible (nor is there demand to make them practical). Kosher meat is only somewhat more expensive than supermarket meat, you can get it fresh and not frozen (unlike Niman ranch in most parts of country), and the quality is very high.

Death is part of the life cycle. Cattle are not human beings -- they are food animals and they literally would not exist if it were not for their food potential...they are not natural animals, they have been bred into existence for the sole purpose of being slaughtered for their meat. If people suddenly stopped eating meat (and how would this occur? would it be made illegal?), what would happen to the MILLIONS of head of cattle in this country, let alone other parts of the world? They would not suddenly be able to "roam the plains" and they aren't likely to become pets, what with weighing 1500 lbs each. They have no niche in the environment besides being eaten -- if simply "left to fend for themselves", they would die (wastefully and painfully) of starvation.

It's winter now, but come spring (like every spring), my cats will be outside. And they will be hunting -- they are predators. What they do isn't very pretty...they don't kill mercifully. They like to tease and play with their prey, even torture them. Many of the small animals I find have been torn limb from limb. (If I actually come upon them with prey, I try to get it away from them, but mostly it occurs when I am not around.) NATURE IS RED IN TOOTH AND FANG.

It's nice to try and imagine life...imagine humans....imagine animals...as soft and sweet and cuddly, and all laughing and playing together in a kind of children's book Eden. But it isn't true. That's not reality.

If you do not wish to eat meat -- fine. I will respect your wishes. But in turn, I ask you to respect mine and those of most people in the world. Eating meat -- even if you disagree with it, or don't wish to do it yourself -- is normal, and it's been done for thousands and thousands of years.