I really like the musical transitions between stories on NPR.
Anyway, I was listening to NPR this morning on my drive to work, and they mentioned that the law Congress signed last year as part of the giant farm bill goes into effect today. Grocery stores will start labeling their meat with information about where the meat was born, raised, and slaughtered.
I know this was to support “buy local” initiatives and to help prevent scares from hypothetical mad cow outbreaks, but I wonder if it will convert from fence-sitters to vegetarianism. I know people who have told me that to them, meat is meat, and they do not want to think about what those slabs of protein looked like before they were meat. This labeling program is a (perhaps not very) subtle reminder of exactly that.
Will it bother you to know this stuff, or will it enhance your enjoyment to know that you are getting only the best meats? Do happy cows taste better? (Of course, some would argue that those California cows aren’t very happy.)
I don’t have a problem with knowing where my meat comes from. I live on a mini-farm in EG and I have my grandma killing chickens all the time. My friends get a little grossed out that the chicken they are eating came from my backyard, but I think that’s stupid.
I would much rather know that my chickens were fed corn meal versus other crap I have no idea about.
Judy a vegetarian? never! hahaha
I wonder if there will be a difference in meat quality depending on the farm it comes from. You might begin to get brand loyalty from a particular farm. hell, i wonder if we’ll start to get yelps on farms.
To me it almost reminds me of going to a butcher, they could give you the information about the particular meat, how they would cook it/use it. Isn’t that what we saw on “Leave it to Beaver”? Think of it as a revival of artisan meat buying!
There is definitely a difference in meat quality based on farm and how the animals are raised, and hopefully this will force producers towards better methods of production, so even if animals are still getting slaughtered, they are better treated when alive.