The Butcher
Feb 21, 2008 general food
In a carnivorous world, a butcher is a necessary link in the food chain, carving a carcass of unsavory flesh into mouthwatering cuts.
Now that’s a tag line!
Not in the typical rotation of shows I watch, last night the episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel was “The Butcher.” It was pretty interesting, and especially the last couple bits when they briefly spoke about custom slaughtering and then showed at length a mobile butcher in action.
After hauling his giant mobile butchering trailer out into the middle of nowhere and leveling it, the guy literally got on a tractor and shot a cow in the head with a rifle before they strung it up and pulled it in. He then proceeded to skin it and gut it before taking it back to his facility to age and butcher into the final cuts.
As gruesome as that may or may not sound to you, it’s the best possible scenario for an animal to be slaughtered humanely, and as I haven’t found anyone that can do this in Missouri, I’d been deeply curious as to how it worked.
I did get the impression that the mobile facility on the show is probably in the upper crust as surprisingly there was actually a USDA inspector present for the entire slaughter.
The butcher specifically stressed that he is fully USDA inspected so that the meat can be further sold down the line. This is not typically the case with custom slaughter because many of the people utilizing it have no further need to resell the meat as it is for their own consumption.
I’m sure they’ll show it again so be on the look out.
Another upcoming episode of food related interest (I thought to look since they had this one) is Harvesting which will air next Wednesday.
Tags: butcher, mobile butcher, mobile slaughterhouse, modern marvels, slaughter, USDA
Attack of the Clones
Jan 16, 2008 farming, sustainable agriculture
With an obvious but unavoidable subject line we found out yesterday the USDA has deemed cloned meat A-OK.
Whether you are for or against it the debate is sure to become heated, and although you won’t have to worry about eating it personally for several years, I considered writing a lengthy post explicitly stating my stance.
I have, however, found a more direct approach by offering you a quote from Bruce Knight, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs with the USDA.
But first how about a snippet from his USDA bio?
A third-generation rancher and farmer and lifelong conservationist, Mr. Knight grew up on a small farm near the Gann Valley, S.D., where he owns a diversified grain and cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems. His ranching background gave him the opportunity to practice stewardship and husbandry and provided firsthand knowledge of the interdependency of animal, plant and human health.
And the quote:
“Many farmers and ranchers are already using other assisted reproductive technologies, such as artificial insemination, embryo transplant, and in-vitro fertilization to produce superior animals…Cloning is another breeding technology that has evolved and has now been demonstrated to be safe.”
So the question, Mr. Knight, is with all that “husbandry and…firsthand knowledge of the interdependency of animal, plant and human health,” how much technology does sex really need?
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?