Thursday, September 18, 2008

Please Respond as You See Fit

This was recently brought to my attention through an email from peta. Do not read if you are faint of heart, and certainly don't view the video.

I don't think everyone should be Vegan. I don't think that people shouldn't eat meat and that ALL farmers treat their products this way. What I do think, is that large conglomerate companies are much harder to keep track of and employ individuals that aren't "farmers" but "factory workers". This abuse of animals is terrible, terrible, terrible, and while I believe that is is an anomoly and not the norm, I certainly won't be purchasing products from Hormel until I hear that the inviduals involved have been terminated and their practices changed. Whether you care about the treatment of animals or not, the fact that workers urinated into the areas where they feed the animals may be of interest to you.

Again, please don't take this as terrible propaganda but I felt it was my responsibility to get the word out to my small circle of friends that Hormel wasn't such a great place to get your meat products. I know Mircea will cry b/c I won't buy him Dinty Moore anymore, but I know that our tastebuds aren't worth the pain inflicted on those animals that provide us life sustaining nourishment.

Off my soapbox, but this just boils my blood and makes me afraid of the world we live in where humans could treat ANYTHING this way.


UPDATE: I received the following email in response to my letter to Hormel. They are saying that they are not the owners of the hog farms, but indicating that they are suppliers for Hormel. They also provided a link. I am not sure if this completely apeases me, but in fairness, they did respond.


A video was released the evening of September 16, 2008 that showed images from a
hog farm in Iowa. It is important to note that the farm in the video is not a
Hormel Foods' farm and the people are not Hormel Foods' employees.
We find
the images in this video appalling and they are inconsistent with our standards
and industry standards for animal handling.
The abuse on the video depicted
practices that are completely unacceptable.
We expect all current suppliers
to adhere to the proper animal handling standards from day one and continue to
do so throughout our relationship.
We are working with our supplier to ensure
this activity is no longer taking place, and they are investigating this matter
and will take appropriate disciplinary actions, including terminating
employees.
Underscoring our company's zero tolerance policy, we have in the
past terminated employees, truckers and contracts with producers when animal
welfare issues have arisen.
Animal welfare and animal husbandry have always
been top priority at Hormel Foods. This is simply about treating animals
humanely because it's the right thing to do. We take our zero tolerance policy
for the inhumane treatment of animals very seriously and have implemented many
standards outlined in our responsibility report :
http://www.hormelfoods.com/responsibility/process/animalWelfare.aspx.
Rochelle
Kroc
Manager Of Consumer Response

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh. I think I feel sick.

My brother Marc worked at a pig farm for about a month last year. He would often tell me about the happening there and I thought it was horrible. Now granted, it was not near as bad as the place in the video, but some of their practices were/are questionable. I'm glad he decided to quit.

Back to that video. It was terrible and I really hope someone sets that company right. Even if they are being raised for the sole purpose of slaughtering them, at least give them some dignity during their lives.

Anonymous Me said...

Hormel Vegetarian Chili is listed on the "I Can't Believe it's Vegan" site. Do you think they'll remove it?

Kate said...

I wrote to peta about the Hormel veggie chili and got my email kicked back, so I'll try again.

Even though it doesn't have the same "problem" as the other products, it's part of the conglomerate that is part of the problem.

Chantelle- I'm sure it was really hard for him to work there. It is definitely not a job that is for the faint of heart. The dignity is what I care about...it really is. If we're going to breed animals for food, can't we "thank them" for the gift of their life for our nourishment and not punish them for prolonging our existence? maybe that sounds silly, but that is how i feel and have always felt, and didn't realize how to make a difference (not that being vegan makes that difference, it is a step)

kismetsCIRCUS said...

Last night I talked to my dad who was raised on a farm and they butchered their own livestock. He said that farmers (real farmers) do not do what Hormel factories are doing. He said there's a spot in the back of the head that they shot so the animal felt no pain and died quickly. I'm still put off by the video and refuse to eat meat right now, it's good for the system to cleanse it from time to time. Now is that time for me.