• @gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    0
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    I remember there was a study done on how to best slaughter swine (pigs).

    The methods that were investigated included: a mechanical hit on the head, suffocation in CO2, and some other measures.

    What was found was not only that the suffocation method caused significant stress in the animals, but also that the meat collected this way tasted way worse than meat collected through other slaughtering methods.


    this could be relevant in this case: if fish suffocate slowly to death, meat producers might have a financial incentive to change that, to be able to sell better-quality meat, possibly at a higher price. anyways, it would make for good advertisement. that is why meat-producers (fish-producers) should take this seriously.

    • That Weird Vegan she/her
      link
      fedilink
      English
      04 months ago

      I have a crazy idea here. Now hear me out, this is gonna sound like a wackadoodle idea, but,… how about we don’t murder the animals? Crazy, I know.

          • Meursault
            link
            fedilink
            English
            04 months ago

            Human beings are omnivores and nature doesn’t moralize.

              • lime!
                link
                fedilink
                English
                04 months ago

                this depends on where you live, surely. i have open field farms all around me that cooperatively own a slaughterhouse. they sell meat in stores under one brand but you can go to any of the farms and get it directly.

                • @BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  04 months ago

                  But on a serious note, how good is venison? Fucking delicious. You ever make chili with it? Goddamn backstrap chili. Like eating heaven.

                • @BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  04 months ago

                  I only eat meat that consents. Anybody want to come over for dinner? Coincidentally, you’ll have to sign a waiver.

            • @samus12345@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              “I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs, a very endearing sight, I’m sure you’ll agree. And even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged onto a half submerged log. As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.”

              -Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

            • @AlreadyDefederated@midwest.social
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              Have you tried some good alternatives to meat? Like, try seitan* crumbles in a taco. With all the spices and other toppings it’s really hard to tell the difference. Also, I find it almost impossible to tell an Impossible Whopper with Cheese from a regular Whopper with Cheese, after all the glop they put on it. I know those are both bottom-of-the-barrel meat choices, but maybe branch out and try a thing or two. If you don’t like it - no biggie.

              I’ve tried casually dipping my toes into the vegetarian pool with just occasional meat substitutions. Occasionally I find something that’s “No way” but more often than not, I find something that is also really tasty. It’s not meat, but it’s also tasty in a different way, so I don’t miss meat as much. I’ve found vegetarian dishes I actually like. My biggest problem however is getting enough protein in my diet when I start eating mostly veggies.

              [* Seitan only if you can handle gluten. Because, it’s like 100% gluten! ]

              • @JigglySackles@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                04 months ago

                Meat alternatives are a nice thought. I’m glad they exist for people who can accept them in place of meat. I haven’t found them to be very good substitutes yet so I’m not there. I’ve had the impossible whopper, and while it’s good, it’s not a replacement for me. Hopefully more options come over the years. I’m hopeful for lab grown meat personally since it’d still be meat, just ethically produced.

                • @slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  04 months ago

                  It’s crazy that people don’t like meat substitutes, but if you tell them it’s not a meat substitute, but actually a special cow from nepal with a different taste, it’s suddenly good and exotic. I hate it when it doesn’t taste like animal suffering.

          • @ubergeek@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            English
            04 months ago

            All animals, us included, are food for other animals, and plants.

            That’s what is called an “ecosystem”.

            • @Vandals_handle@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              That’s a food web. An ecosystem incorporates the environment organisms live in and how the organisms interact within that environment. The soil, climate and weather are all part of an ecosystem.

          • @JigglySackles@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            04 months ago

            Yes they are. They have been for eons. It’s not all they are and people should work towards meatless options and ethical meat like lab grown. But animals are definitely a food source.

          • @daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            04 months ago

            All food is cruel. You can, at most, minimize the cruelty.

            But you should know that millions of insects are killed in agriculture. Insects are indeed animals.

            You can, if you want, minimize the amount of animals your presence in this world brings to an early death. But you cannot reduce it to zero no even near zero. Probably hundreds of small animals (most insects but surely many other small animals) die each day because things you do.

            The line on how much do you want to minimize might be on one place for you, and that’s ok. But you have to respect other people lines as well.

            • @Taleya@aussie.zone
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              This…plants feel pain. Mushrooms may actually be sentient. Everyone draws their own lines, it doesn’t make them better or worse.

              • @o1011o@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                04 months ago

                There is overwhelming scientific evidence that animals feel pain and are sentient like us, and despite the pop science articles to the contrary there is no scientific evidence that plants feel pain or have sentience at all. Plants respond to stimulus in very complicated ways, that’s what we have evidence for. Don’t pretend the two are equivalent. Stop getting your ideas from sensationalist pop science garbage and read the actual studies.

                • @Taleya@aussie.zone
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  04 months ago

                  So your line is at “feels pain on a level identifiable to something in the animal kingdom”

          • @PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            04 months ago

            If that were true, we wouldn’t be able to digest them. Ever tried eating a tree? Or a boulder? Those aren’t food for humans. I’m not gonna argue against moral motivations for veganism, but I will argue against factually incorrect ones.

            • That Weird Vegan she/her
              link
              fedilink
              English
              04 months ago

              Animal flesh causes cancer and heart disease. if we were MEANT to eat animals, we wouldn’t get those diseases.

              • @PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                04 months ago

                Life causes cancer, plaque build-up causes heart disease. Nothing was meant to do or eat or kill anything, that’s just how life evolved. Again, I’m not arguing over moral stances, I think it’s very admirable. But I mean, even just as mammals we’ve been consuming other animals for more than 200,000,000 years! The reptiles those first mammals evolved from probably ate animals, as the fish those reptiles evolved from probably did as well. Cooked meat is very likely the evolutionary edge that lead to what what we can sentience, it obviously “works” on a biological level. To argue otherwise is delusion.

              • Sal
                link
                fedilink
                English
                0
                edit-2
                4 months ago

                If eaten in large amounts. Also, herbivore animals get cancer too.

      • @nednobbins@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        04 months ago

        Yes. It’s crazy. That’s why the vast majority of us don’t do it.
        It’s one thing to be a vegetarian for health or environmental reasons.
        When you try to convince people that meat==murder, you come across as a wackadoodle.

    • Phoenixz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      04 months ago

      I never understood the CO2 suffocation idea… I mean, I don’t k ow about fish, but mammals supposedly have a good detection for CO2 in their blood and it’ll set off panic alarms everywhere.

      Ignoring the vegetarian discussion for a minute, if they could at least use a different gas, say nitrogen or something, it should be a lot less stressful for the animals

    • @BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      04 months ago

      My slaughterhouse uses radon. The meat makes my testicle feel funny, and we throw up a lot. And I haven’t had hair in years. But it’s cheap! And so tender.

    • @Crankenstein@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      04 months ago

      And the reason we still use CO2 slaughter instead of something like Nitrogen is because… They already have machines built for CO2 and just don’t want to pay the cost of changing practices.

      Pure greed and laziness.

      • @DarthFrodo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        0
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        They just know people will buy the meat no matter how much the animals were abused so why would they bother? Even those who see themselves as animal lovers happily look the other way with every purchase. The industry has all the incentives to be exceptionally cruel so of course it is.

        • @joelfromaus@aussie.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          04 months ago

          As far as I’m aware NO2 will fill a pit. In the industry I work in NO2 leaks are serious threat because the engines that are worked on are in, what is essentially, a cage that you walk down into. I’ve not experienced it myself but heard from someone who experienced it firsthand as you just start feeling sleepy. I know now that it’s because our bodies are sensitive to asphyxiation from CO2 but not NO2, so as it displaces the oxygen in our lungs you just start getting woozy and tired.

          All that being said; I am not an expert. Half this is information from diesel mechanics who work with it and the other half is from random science videos. So take it with a grain of salt.

      • @ubergeek@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        04 months ago

        Most slaughter houses use bolt guns.

        Zero pain, or as minimal amount of pain as possible. Like, microseconds. Because afterwards, the entire brain has been… disorganized.