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Besides being pretty bad for you, factory farming of pigs is extremely brutal to the pigs themselves [1]. It's best to avoid all pork products, including bacon

Besides being pretty bad for you, factory farming of pigs is extremely brutal to the pigs themselves [1]. It's best to avoid all pork products, including bacon. Also, considering all the recent talk about being humane to octopuses considering their intelligence, the same should go for pigs [2]. [1] https://ffacoalition.org/articles/pig-farming/ https://ffacoalition.org/articles/pig-farming/ [2] https://www.humanesociety.org/animals/pigs https://www.humanesociety.org/animals/pigs

maerF0x0 5y ago
pork isn't "bad" in the right dose. But agree that factory farming is brutal. That just seems to indicate buying pork from humane producers? https://support.butcherbox.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015713087-Can-you-tell-me-about-your-pork- https://support.butcherbox.com/hc/en-us/articles/11501571308...
- colordrops 5y ago
  butcherbox is a distributor. They work with countless farms, so it's near impossible to vet how well the various farms operate: https://farms.butcherbox.com/ https://farms.butcherbox.com/
  - nickstinemates 5y ago
    Also they are shitty and the quality of their meat is shitty. Gqve it a real try and was very disappointed from onboarding to delivery to actual product.
    - maerF0x0 5y ago
      That was not my experience, but maybe the stuff i was eating before was even more shittier ? Any suggestions? Particularly something that doesn't require me to live within 20 miles of you.
      - nickstinemates 5y ago
        Buy direct from a farm or a butcher who buys direct from a farm. Or grow your own.
    - tomjakubowski 5y ago
      My experience also
boomboomsubban 5y ago
I'm not arguing against your main point, but I believe all the recent talk about being humane to octopi is just giving them the same treatment as pigs. Which can be pretty piss poor as you note, but now you can't boil it alive.
- colordrops 5y ago
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372727/Thousands-pigs-steamed-death-Iowas-largest-pork-producer.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372727/Thousands-p... https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/slaughterhouses-boiling-animals-alive-freezing/ https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/slaughterhouses-boiling-ani... https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/pigs-boiled-alive-dutch-slaughterhouses https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/pigs-boi...
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    All of those reports are about people violating the law. Now boiling an octopus alive in the UK is also illegal.
    - cyberpunk 5y ago
      What possible reason is there to boil an octopus alive? I come from a shellfish village, and we would do our lobsters this way all my life -- we would put them in headfirst which I guess maybe slightly reduces the time they suffer (although -- personally -- when I am doing it, I kill them with a knife to the brain before they go into the water these days).. But octopus? How horrifying.
      - boomboomsubban 5y ago
        I'm no expert on cooking octopus, I'm saying that the recent hubbub about being humane to octopi gave them the same treatment we currently give pigs, things like a humane slaughter. Your statement seemed to imply we should give pigs the same treatment as octopi. Pigs have always received better treatment, even though they often receive terrible treatment. Octopi are served live in some places still.
jimbob45 5y ago
On a practical note, I'm struggling more and more to find dishes that I would even put pork in. At this point, the only pork dish I eat is pulled pork and that's not exactly something you can make a staple in your diet without some serious work at home.
- nickstinemates 5y ago
  Sausage is the main one. Beef and turkey/chicken sausage aren't nearly as good imo
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Pulled pork in a slow cooker is quite easy to make. Brown it in a pan, put in the slow cooker with seasoning, four hours later, pull it. (It’s not a staple for us, but it’s in the regular rotation and I’d put it as slightly less total effort than most of our family meals.)
  - cyberpunk 5y ago
    4 hours? Go longer and lower! I hope 'seasoning' is proper demiglace ;)
- thebigspacefuck 5y ago
  I switched to brisket
geodel 5y ago
I hope we get similar advisory about agile coding factories in future. In my personal experience, they are also brutal.
nickstinemates 5y ago
This is in part why I raise my own pigs and make my own bacon. It is also very rewarding to be responsible for my family's consumption of meat.
dm319 5y ago
Yes, I have recently stopped eating pigs for similar reasons. I live in the UK and was horrified to find they are killed by CO2 gas. I am lucky enough to experience breathing in my own CO2, and I can tell you that it feels like you're suffocating. Your main respiratory drive is driven by CO2 levels and it induces panic and heavy breathing. Aside from how they die, pigs are pretty intelligent animals, and I think an adult pig is similar in mental capacity to a 6 yr old or higher. If they lived better fulfilling lives and died peacefully I might feel like I could eat pork. But not at the moment. Actually it becomes a rabbit-hole. I then discovered how baby male chicks are killed... At the moment I feel like eating meat requires a mental disconnect from the suffering if the animal and what we think is ok, and the act of eating food.
- 14 5y ago
  You will be happy to know at least one company started sexing chickens before they even hatch by pricking with a needle and taking a very small sample of the egg prior to it really developing. That way they don’t have to birth male chicks and avoid culling them.
  - cyberpunk 5y ago
    Yeah chick shredding is absolutely horrendous. At least it's quick.. I guess.
- cyberpunk 5y ago
  Farm beside me when I was growing up would kill them with a sledgehammer. So, err, yeah. I'm less concerned about the death (as long as it's over as quickly as possible) than the living conditions. Either way, I'm basically vegetarian these days. I'll pay for something someone promises me is really organic acorn fed pork or some kind of super happy cow, but I'm not even really sure how much I believe that anymore. Venison, however, I think is basically guilt free. It's never farmed (at least, where I am from) and it tastes better than beef..
  - anjel 5y ago
    Guilt free, but getting risky, if your venison happens to be American.[1] [1] https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/bad-news-venison-eaters-mad-cow-disease-among-deer-highly-infectious https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/bad-news-venison-eater...

maerF0x0 5y ago

pork isn't "bad" in the right dose. But agree that factory farming is brutal. That just seems to indicate buying pork from humane producers? https://support.butcherbox.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015713087-Can-you-tell-me-about-your-pork- https://support.butcherbox.com/hc/en-us/articles/11501571308...

colordrops 5y ago
butcherbox is a distributor. They work with countless farms, so it's near impossible to vet how well the various farms operate: https://farms.butcherbox.com/ https://farms.butcherbox.com/
- nickstinemates 5y ago
  Also they are shitty and the quality of their meat is shitty. Gqve it a real try and was very disappointed from onboarding to delivery to actual product.
  - maerF0x0 5y ago
    That was not my experience, but maybe the stuff i was eating before was even more shittier ? Any suggestions? Particularly something that doesn't require me to live within 20 miles of you.
    - nickstinemates 5y ago
      Buy direct from a farm or a butcher who buys direct from a farm. Or grow your own.
  - tomjakubowski 5y ago
    My experience also

boomboomsubban 5y ago

I'm not arguing against your main point, but I believe all the recent talk about being humane to octopi is just giving them the same treatment as pigs. Which can be pretty piss poor as you note, but now you can't boil it alive.

colordrops 5y ago
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372727/Thousands-pigs-steamed-death-Iowas-largest-pork-producer.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8372727/Thousands-p... https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/slaughterhouses-boiling-animals-alive-freezing/ https://mercyforanimals.org/blog/slaughterhouses-boiling-ani... https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/pigs-boiled-alive-dutch-slaughterhouses https://www.iamexpat.nl/expat-info/dutch-expat-news/pigs-boi...
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  All of those reports are about people violating the law. Now boiling an octopus alive in the UK is also illegal.
  - cyberpunk 5y ago
    What possible reason is there to boil an octopus alive? I come from a shellfish village, and we would do our lobsters this way all my life -- we would put them in headfirst which I guess maybe slightly reduces the time they suffer (although -- personally -- when I am doing it, I kill them with a knife to the brain before they go into the water these days).. But octopus? How horrifying.
    - boomboomsubban 5y ago
      I'm no expert on cooking octopus, I'm saying that the recent hubbub about being humane to octopi gave them the same treatment we currently give pigs, things like a humane slaughter. Your statement seemed to imply we should give pigs the same treatment as octopi. Pigs have always received better treatment, even though they often receive terrible treatment. Octopi are served live in some places still.

jimbob45 5y ago

On a practical note, I'm struggling more and more to find dishes that I would even put pork in. At this point, the only pork dish I eat is pulled pork and that's not exactly something you can make a staple in your diet without some serious work at home.

nickstinemates 5y ago
Sausage is the main one. Beef and turkey/chicken sausage aren't nearly as good imo
sokoloff 5y ago
Pulled pork in a slow cooker is quite easy to make. Brown it in a pan, put in the slow cooker with seasoning, four hours later, pull it. (It’s not a staple for us, but it’s in the regular rotation and I’d put it as slightly less total effort than most of our family meals.)
- cyberpunk 5y ago
  4 hours? Go longer and lower! I hope 'seasoning' is proper demiglace ;)
thebigspacefuck 5y ago
I switched to brisket

geodel 5y ago

I hope we get similar advisory about agile coding factories in future. In my personal experience, they are also brutal.

nickstinemates 5y ago

This is in part why I raise my own pigs and make my own bacon. It is also very rewarding to be responsible for my family's consumption of meat.

dm319 5y ago

Yes, I have recently stopped eating pigs for similar reasons. I live in the UK and was horrified to find they are killed by CO2 gas. I am lucky enough to experience breathing in my own CO2, and I can tell you that it feels like you're suffocating. Your main respiratory drive is driven by CO2 levels and it induces panic and heavy breathing. Aside from how they die, pigs are pretty intelligent animals, and I think an adult pig is similar in mental capacity to a 6 yr old or higher. If they lived better fulfilling lives and died peacefully I might feel like I could eat pork. But not at the moment. Actually it becomes a rabbit-hole. I then discovered how baby male chicks are killed... At the moment I feel like eating meat requires a mental disconnect from the suffering if the animal and what we think is ok, and the act of eating food.

14 5y ago
You will be happy to know at least one company started sexing chickens before they even hatch by pricking with a needle and taking a very small sample of the egg prior to it really developing. That way they don’t have to birth male chicks and avoid culling them.
- cyberpunk 5y ago
  Yeah chick shredding is absolutely horrendous. At least it's quick.. I guess.
cyberpunk 5y ago
Farm beside me when I was growing up would kill them with a sledgehammer. So, err, yeah. I'm less concerned about the death (as long as it's over as quickly as possible) than the living conditions. Either way, I'm basically vegetarian these days. I'll pay for something someone promises me is really organic acorn fed pork or some kind of super happy cow, but I'm not even really sure how much I believe that anymore. Venison, however, I think is basically guilt free. It's never farmed (at least, where I am from) and it tastes better than beef..
- anjel 5y ago
  Guilt free, but getting risky, if your venison happens to be American.[1] [1] https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/bad-news-venison-eaters-mad-cow-disease-among-deer-highly-infectious https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/bad-news-venison-eater...