Ideal Bite

Toshio ~ No offense, but big frigin deal. If it were the principal or 'rules' that mattered, no animal would suffer when being slaughtered for meat. Our very own 'wonderful' US of A claims to have standards and regulations too ~ but anyone with an ounce of a brain in their head knows that while it might look good on paper, it's not so pretty in the slaughterhouse. Bottom line: The only way to be 'animal friendly' is to not eat them.

Respectfully, if I were one of the animals being killed, the *principle* matters much less (actually almost *not at all*) and the *practice matters completely*. For example, if I were to be killed and I knew that executioner _intended_ me to not feel pain, but was very very likely too make me feel pain .... I would not care of his principles. I would want to be killed ... oh ... umm ... I really would *NOT WANT TO BE KILLED AT ALL*. Oh yeah, that's *more humane*. It would also save the environment / our own butt's too (Green House Gases due to 'livestock'). Please update your readers on this! Did you point them to the 'other side' / 'sometimes' / 'most of the time' that it is not more humane? More humane to have their throats slit while conscious??? Thanks Andreas

Toshio- I think you should have said that in the bite today. Instead it was presented as if Kosher is more humane as a general rule. I think it's the exception when kosher is more humane than regular factory farmed animals. Most live in the same misery and are killed just as painfully- perhaps even more so. I still think ideal bite should send a retraction. It was misleading and irresponsible to post without giving a fuller picture of the issue. Thanks, A loyal biter

Kosher slaughtering of animals is the most humane way to kill an animal. An extremely sharp, smooth blade is used to sever the spine, spinal cord, trachea and esophagus all at the same instance. This prevents the animal from feeling any pain AT ALL. Here is a quote from the Chabad website explaining kosher animal slaughter: "Kosher mammals and birds are slaughtered by a special procedure called shechitah, in which the animal's throat is quickly, precisely and painlessly cut with a sharp, perfectly smooth knife (called a chalaf) by a shochet -- a highly trained, Torah-observant and G-d-fearing individual." http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/113468/jewish/Shechit... In addition, http://www.ou.org is a great resource. And any food that is labled with an OU (it's really a U inside an O) is also strictly kosher. Just a plain K is not as strict of a kosher certification as OU.

Rivka ~ Maybe that's true in theory - that's what all the debate is about. I've seen footage, however, that shows people don't always do things the way they're supposed to and the animal DOES SUFFER tremendously!!! Like someone said earlier - this is about reality, not theory.

No one's forcing anyone to eat meat. And there may be animals suffering out there. The point is that if someone does want to eat meat, animals slaughtered according to kosher laws suffer less than other methods. Moreover the point of the ideal bite today was to indicate that kosher-slaughtered animals are healthier to eat, and this is because Kosher laws require an animal to be in absolutely perfect health when slaughtered. Non-Kosher meat is not as strict about this. In fact, after an animal is kosher-slaughtered, its internal organs are inspected to ensure that there was no sickness within the body that went undetected. If any illness, damage, or cancer is found, the animal loses its kosher status.

Lorie- The fact is that if it was just about health, ideal bite shouldn't have touted that Kosher is worlds better for animals. And again, Kosher is rarely more humane. They are raised along side factory farmed animals and are killed by slitting the throat. There are videos and articles by great sources (the ny times being quite notable) that talk about how Kosher isn't better. So if you're just arguing that the slaughter method is kinder, well, what about the rest of their lives up until those last 2 minutes of death. Do those not matter? Frustrated loyal biter

A. Berman ~ I'm on YOUR side. I think you're arguing with the wrong person. :)

We know that consumption of meat is bad for us, bad for the environment and bad for the animals. So why are there so many Bite posts encouraging meat-eating and disguising the health, ecological and inhumane realities behind false notions of "green", "animal-friendly" and "healthy"? Isn't it time we moved beyond our reliance on the traditional Western diet rather than continuing to make excuses for it?