Healthy Cows (photo by Emily Roesly, courtesy of morgueFile.com)

A California court has upheld a state ban on slaughtering animals that are too sick, weak or injured to stand on their own. Farm animals that are too ill to stand are referred to as downer cows or downer pigs. Opponents argued that the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) prohibits states from doing so.

Moral & Health Judgments

"Regulating what kinds of animals may be slaughtered calls for a host of practical, moral and public health judgments that go far beyond those made in the FMIA," said Chief Judge Alex Kozinski.

The National Meat Association and the American Meat Institute opposed the court's rulling, but a A post on Care2.com says, "...stressed and sick animals have a much greater risk of harboring bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella, which kill hundreds of people every year."

Farm Sanctuary president and co-founder Gene Baur said, "We applaud the Court for refusing to protect the interests of big agribusiness at the expense of the American people and the animals entrusted to our care."

Industry's Troubing Past

There's a disturbing history of very sick animals getting into the food suppy as a result of factory farming. Back in 2008, The president of the meat packing company responsible for the largest recall in U.S. history admitted before the U.S. Congress that sick cows were slaughtered and entered the meat supply as hamburger. The hamburger meat subsequently made its way to the tables of American families and the meals of schoolchildren.

Steve Mendell, CEO of California’s Westland/Hallmark Meat Company, first denied that sick cows were slaughtered at his company’s facility. Then he was shown a video of a "downer" cow being “shocked and abused by workers trying to move it to the ‘kill box,’ then finally shot with a bolt gun and dragged by a chain to the processing area,” according to an article in the New York Times.

Grass-fed Beef is the Healthy Alternative

Cows in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are fed corn which they are not able to properly digest, making them a prime source of dangerous food contaminants. Cows raised on CAFOs are administered antibiotics to counter the ill effects of their unnatural corn diet. They are fed corn made cheap and plentiful by heavy subsidies of taxpayer dollars. Cows in CAFOs are also given growth hormones to add to the weight of each animal.

Those cows stand in sharp contrast to free-roaming, grass-fed beef, which is free of E. coli and delivers more nutrients as well, including CLAs and omega 3 fatty acids. Grass-fed beef is roughly twice the price of corn-fed beef from CAFOs. One answer is to eat less and eat better. And what price should we place on keeping our families healthy?

To read the full post on Care2.com cited above, go to: Victory for Downed Farm Animals in California

To view the New York Times article cited above go to: Meat Packer Admits Slaughter of Sick Cows

To view a recent post on the topic, go to: Grass-Fed Beef is Better for You & the Environment

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