The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a rule banning cows too sick to stand from the food supply.
If you're like me, you probably figured this was already the case: Industrial food production is ugly, but not so ugly that disease-dropped animals are deemed fit for the table.
Not quite. As of now, animals unable to stand are judged on a case-by-case basis. (The losers end up with a 4-D grade -- dead, dying, disabled or diseased -- and are turned into commercial pet food. That Fancy Feast isn't so fancy.)
Sounds like a long-overdue change -- but as Andrew Plemmons at Science Progress points out, America's food supply problems run far deeper. "Rationalizing food safety will take more than just rule-making," said Weiss.
Image: North Dakota Department of Agriculture
See Also:
- Beef Battle: Tissue Engineered Burgers vs. Humanely Raised Cattle
- FDA: Okay to Eat Tomatoes Again
- Video: Would You Eat Lab-Grown Meat?
- PETA: I'm a Vegetarian, But I Want Meat
- Pigeons: The Next Step in Local Eating (No, Really)
- FDA: Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Cloned Meat
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