Earthlings

[Catweazle]

The solution is easy and impossible. The easy bit is to closely monitor the way animals are treated, the impossible bit is to convince the public to pay for it. Impossible wins.

Everyone knows how battery chickens are treated, there have been enough documentaries about it, but people still buy the cheap chicken. You can argue that people can't afford the free-range birds, but bear in mind that most people are eating too much meat ( actually too much of a lot of things ) anyway, so they're choosing a big plateful of cheap meat over a healthier portion of healthier meat. Is this ignorance, or greed ?

It used to be quite common for people to keep a few chickens or a pig, but it requires effort, and now it is illegal to feed pigs food scraps it requires expensive feedstock.

[Little John]

The solution is easy and impossible. The easy bit is to closely monitor the way animals are treated, the impossible bit is to convince the public to pay for it. Impossible wins.

Everyone knows how battery chickens are treated, there have been enough documentaries about it, but people still buy the cheap chicken. You can argue that people can't afford the free-range birds, but bear in mind that most people are eating too much meat ( actually too much of a lot of things ) anyway, so they're choosing a big plateful of cheap meat over a healthier portion of healthier meat. Is this ignorance, or greed ?

It used to be quite common for people to keep a few chickens or a pig, but it requires effort, and now it is illegal to feed pigs food scraps it requires expensive feedstock.

Stress induces a high set point appetite for all of the obvious Darwinian reasons. Inability to meet the bills, lack of work security, lack of housing security, poor schools, high crime, lack of spare time, lack of spare energy...all of these thing go with poverty and psychological stress and all of them mean that such people will buy cheap food that fills them up. We can blame people for their natural, micro-economic/psychological responses to a macro-economic/cultural reality they cannot escape. But that apportioning of blame is utterly pointless and counterproductive since it distracts from implementing solutions at the macro-economic/cultural level that would actually make a difference.

[RenewableCandy]

I think you're allowed to feed scraps to a pig if you don't subsequently sell it. But I might be talking b***ocks.

[peaceful_life]

The solution is easy and impossible. The easy bit is to closely monitor the way animals are treated, the impossible bit is to convince the public to pay for it. Impossible wins.

Everyone knows how battery chickens are treated, there have been enough documentaries about it, but people still buy the cheap chicken. You can argue that people can't afford the free-range birds, but bear in mind that most people are eating too much meat ( actually too much of a lot of things ) anyway, so they're choosing a big plateful of cheap meat over a healthier portion of healthier meat. Is this ignorance, or greed ?

It used to be quite common for people to keep a few chickens or a pig, but it requires effort, and now it is illegal to feed pigs food scraps it requires expensive feedstock.

Points taken, although there is another angle from which to view things. Transform food production completely by means of CAP reform to the smaller, ecological and polyculture methods, as advised by ever increasing numbers, including the UN.

Doing this would aslo provide work for those made redundant by scaling back the fast and cheap *food* industry that encourages demand in perpetuating these obscene mechanised processes in the first place, give the customer no choice but to buy healthy and affordable by making 'organic' the default position.

Far from impossible, it's completely necessary, although I'm not saying it'll happen without kicking and screaming.......if at all.

[Catweazle]

It is illegal to feed raw or cooked catering waste to pigs, including waste from household kitchens. The penalty is a fine or a prison sentence of up to two years.

Why should I obey?
This law was introduced in 2001 to reduce the risk of epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease, classical swine fever and African swine fever.

Like speed restrictions outside schools, the law is there for a good reason and it is important that we willingly obey it.

Do vegetables pose a risk?
It is permissible to feed pigs fruit and vegetables direct from your own garden, as there is little risk of contamination.

But feeding waste from your kitchen is illegal — even raw or cooked left-over vegetables, as these may have come into contact with raw or cooked meats.

The law applies to vegetarian households, as well as households where meat is eaten.

http://www.npa-uk.org.uk/disease.html

[featherstick]

From the same organisation - DEFRA - that until a couple of years previously had been sanctioning feeding ground up bits of sheep to cows. It's called legislative capture, agribusiness is extremely good at getting the regulations it wants, and a lot of the regulations are designed to make it impossible for domestic or small-scale, local businesses to operate within the law. It makes me f***ing angry.

[lancasterlad]

I think you're allowed to feed scraps to a pig if you don't subsequently sell it. But I might be talking b***ocks.

You can't feed anything to any farm animal (even if kept as a pet and including poultry) that has passed through a room used for food preparation (k*tch*n) whether the foodstuff is raw or cooked. It results in a fine and up to 2 years in prison if caught and prosecuted.

[peaceful_life]

I think you're allowed to feed scraps to a pig if you don't subsequently sell it. But I might be talking b***ocks.

You can't feed anything to any farm animal (even if kept as a pet and including poultry) that has passed through a room used for food preparation (k*tch*n) whether the foodstuff is raw or cooked. It results in a fine and up to 2 years in prison if caught and prosecuted.

But you can feed produce directly form the soil.

[ceti331]

how is protein powder, environmentally speaking (being milk derived I'd hope a lot better than eating meat?). I know it has to be processed - but its convinient to store (how does that compare to refrigeration/transport. the thing about meat is getting protein with less carbohydrate & fat.

supposedly spirulina algae is a good protein source too

[vtsnowedin]

how is protein powder, environmentally speaking (being milk derived I'd hope a lot better than eating meat?). I know it has to be processed - but its convinient to store (how does that compare to refrigeration/transport. the thing about meat is getting protein with less carbohydrate & fat.

supposedly spirulina algae is a good protein source too

I'm not sure about current methods but evaporated dry milk powder used to be made by placing a tank of raw milk under vacuum to reduce it's boiling point then boiling off the water at low temperature. They may use reverse osmosis today for much of the process to reduce boiling time and energy requirements. The milk of course can come from cows at daily pasture or ones confined to a barn depending on location, season or farmer ideology.

[emordnilap]

how is protein powder, environmentally speaking (being milk derived I'd hope a lot better than eating meat?). I know it has to be processed - but its convinient to store (how does that compare to refrigeration/transport. the thing about meat is getting protein with less carbohydrate & fat.

supposedly spirulina algae is a good protein source too

Don't worry about protein, except for getting too much.

[PS_RalphW]

I think you're allowed to feed scraps to a pig if you don't subsequently sell it. But I might be talking b***ocks.

You can't feed anything to any farm animal (even if kept as a pet and including poultry) that has passed through a room used for food preparation (k*tch*n) whether the foodstuff is raw or cooked. It results in a fine and up to 2 years in prison if caught and prosecuted.

cluck cluck oops

[ceti331]

Don't worry about protein, except for getting too much.

in my own experience, much easier to stay healthy with higher protein intake. its more filling. it might be frequency more than quantity.

well, I did find fruit+protein powder could replace meat. I can reduce my meat intake.

[kenneal - lagger]

The balance of different proteins is critical. Not all are the same and not all are available from the same source.

[emordnilap]

Don't worry about protein, except for getting too much.

in my own experience, much easier to stay healthy with higher protein intake. its more filling. it might be frequency more than quantity.

Excess is as bad as deficiency and far easier to achieve. A rough guide is is one gram per kilogram of body weight a day, tops.