In north Alabama we have chicken processing plants. It is difficult to watch the semi trucks live-haul 5,000 chickens down the highways on the way to slaughter. I’ve seen em in 13 degree F weather. Geeze its weird.
That said, the unfortunate reality is that there are enough stories of bad meat and recalls - not to mention that the backstop for much of this is the govt - where our food overlords have fallen short of our God's demand that we be good stewards over the flora and fauna.
If we leave this up to the govt, maybe a few bad processors who aren't politically connected go dark but the others will get a statutory shield and animals (and consumers) suffer.
I personally believe strongly in private action. During the pandemic shortages, many people discovered local farmers AND the benefits of getting to know and see your food. It doesn't require becoming a crunchy granola leftist hippie...and on this part of life they may have a point.
Temple Grandin, the autistic advisor to the cattle processing industry whose insights revolutionized cattle processing and made it more efficient AND humane, says that we have an obligation to treat the animals properly before we process them. I think she's right, and if I have to pay extra for a trip to the farm AND I get to add 5-10 years to my life to avoid tainted bacon, sign me up.
Sign says clearance to the 12-foot line
But the chickens was stacked to 13-nine