Althouse: "Slaughterhouses are so filthy that more than half of all meat is contaminated with fecal bacteria."

March 15, 2012

"Slaughterhouses are so filthy that more than half of all meat is contaminated with fecal bacteria."

The message on the toilet paper supplied — by PETA — to the city of Trenton, which, in a budget crunch, was running out.

38 comments:

Alex said...: Slaughterhouses are evil, filthy places where tough men do the tough work of bringing meat to our tables. God bless 'em.; 3/15/12, 2:00 PM
rhhardin said...: Use the Sheryl Crow plan.; 3/15/12, 2:03 PM
Scott M said...: Does filet mignon get a better grade of shit than chopped beef? Cuz it certainly tastes like better shit.

When PETA gets around to addressing the suffering and slaughter of ALL animals, I'll take them more seriously.; 3/15/12, 2:04 PM
Methadras said...: PETA are like atheists, caring about something don't consume in the name of their beliefs. What an odd bunch. If you don't eat meat, then don't worry about those that do. If you care so much about the cows that supply our meat, then open up your humane slaughterhouses and give us the good beef you claim you want current slaughterhouses don't provide. Otherwise, kindly shut the fuck up.; 3/15/12, 2:05 PM
One Particular Harbor said...: They do realize that fruits and veggies can be infected with e coli from handlers, right?

We've had enough e coli outbreaks involving plant-based foods that this is a non-starter for PETA.; 3/15/12, 2:07 PM
chickelit said...: Shouldn't PETA's message go on frothy lube too?; 3/15/12, 2:07 PM
James said...: PETA needs to take care of the beam in its own eyes: PETA kills more than 95 percent of pets in its care; 3/15/12, 2:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: Horrors! It's those darn Red Meat Eaters chomping away again.Will they never have enough?

They are also leaving a large bloody footprint; and we know blood (the life carrier itself) is CARBON BASED!

Scandals are mighty thin theses days.; 3/15/12, 2:09 PM
Cedarford said...: Lost opportunity!
Meat eaters could have supplied TP with a message "PETA kills more animals in this country than anyone outside Tyson Chicken".; 3/15/12, 2:14 PM
JAL said...: Unsure why they care since the latest health "news" is that people who eat red meat die sooner.

You'd think they'd be out there pushing redmeat so they could knowck off the opposition.

And on the toilet paper news delivery?

Class. All class.; 3/15/12, 2:15 PM
Rusty said...: Oh. Thank you, Scott.

Now where's the windex.; 3/15/12, 2:17 PM
Crimso said...: "Scandals are mighty thin theses days."

Yes, but we'll always have the Republican war on women.; 3/15/12, 2:23 PM
Sorun said...: Fecal bacteria is found pretty much everywhere. Get a grip.; 3/15/12, 2:24 PM
Scott M said...: Now where's the windex.

Bill me. I have a fund set up for just this sort of thing.; 3/15/12, 2:24 PM
coketown said...: It's not fecal bacteria. It's intestinal bacteria. Since poo travels through the intestines, it becomes contaminated with intestinal bacteria. When an animal is butchered and its intestines opened, the slaughterhouse is contaminated with this bacteria, which is entirely harmless. PETA's message is as stupid as racing up to someone eating yogurt, ripping the cup from their hand, throwing it out the window, and stating in an exasperated, breathless tone: "You were about to eat something that is 100% contaminated with bacteria!" Bacteria is awesome. In fact, we would all die without so-called fecal bacteria in our systems.

PETA is pushing an ignorant, anti-science campaign. Flat-earther in the extreme. Probably they don't have telephones at PETA headquarters since telephones are a fad, and because telephone receivers are notorious for being contaminated with bacteria.; 3/15/12, 2:38 PM
Unknown said...: like it as not when you deal with farm food you have to deal with crap also.

Whenever you see the word peta go buy a cheeseburger.; 3/15/12, 2:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: Raw meat like raw milk is a threat, but maybe the government can teach people to cook meat.; 3/15/12, 2:48 PM
coketown said...: Tomorrow is Friday and so, as a Catholic cultist, I can't eat meat to get my daily ration of fecal bacteria. I typically go for sushi on Fridays during Lent since fish is permitted. But so does everyone else. The sushi places are always packed. Other restaurants should run promotions: "Lent special: 20% off all vegetarian entrees." With endless loaves of bread, too.; 3/15/12, 2:50 PM
edutcher said...: Ingrid Newkirk, foundress of PETA, says she thinks more of animals than people.

The way her outfit treats animals, she would be right at home beside Heydrich.; 3/15/12, 3:00 PM
William said...: I wonder why no one has ever thought about advertising on toilet paper. TP does deliver a captive audience and one which has time to absorb the message. Perhaps the objection is that they don't wish their product to be associated with taking a dump. But products like Activa yogurt or Metumucil might condsider this a feature, not a bug. Certainly something for some enterprising ad exec to think about.; 3/15/12, 3:04 PM
Alex said...: I wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Newkirk doesn't have children. What a sicko.; 3/15/12, 3:05 PM
Robert said...: If PETA says anything I'm confident it's not true.; 3/15/12, 3:07 PM
Blue@9 said...: I wonder why no one has ever thought about advertising on toilet paper.

I'm guessing most companies don't want to put their brand on something that people use to wipe their bums. There's novelty tp, but it usually has images of stuff you detest (like OBL). I'm guessing Ford and Microsoft don't want that.; 3/15/12, 3:21 PM
Bob_R said...: I suppose PETA can defend the statement with the broadest possible interpretation of the word "contamination." If you have done any slaughtering or visited a slaughterhouse you know it is an inherently dirty process. Sanitation is a lot of work and in most cases it is done well. But surfaces can easily be exposed to bacteria and you are well advised to wash them. Searing surfaces with high heat is not only delicious, but a good safety measure.

If you have the time, grind your own meet. All the trimmings that were prime spots for bacteria to hide get thrown into the butchers grinder. DIY gets to throw the trimmings to the dog and grind the safes and best parts.; 3/15/12, 3:25 PM
Bob_R said...: And yes, Scott, the filet stays pretty clean since it is buried in the primal away from the surface so it doesn't come in direct contact with the shit. (That's how you know it's King. It doesn't have shit all over it.); 3/15/12, 3:27 PM
Skyler said...: So cooking meat not only makes it taste yummier, it also keeps us healthy? Win win!; 3/15/12, 3:35 PM
Carnifex said...: My dad and I would butcher our own deer in the backyard. We'd have my deer, dads deer, moms deer, my brother-in-laws deer, some deer from various other family members. Looked like deer armageddon. But by GOD, when we were done, every part of that deer got used. Even the ribs were used for dog food. Hides were tanned for leather work.

We'd take a full hind quarter, throw it on a grill wrapped in aluminum foil. Add onions, carrots, potatoes, salt and pepper, butter, and water. Throw some roshinears on the grill too.
Comeback 4-5 hours later, with 12-20 guys, open 'er up. and cut the meat off the bone, make sandwiches.

The cold would be bitter, snowy, blowing, but the meat was so hot, and the bread would turn to pink mush in your hand if you din't eat it fast enough. Man, that was the best food you could ever put in your mouth.

No forks, no plates, those were for women. Just stab a knife into whatever you wanted and eat it off it. You could either drink water or black coffee. Cream and sugar was for women(see a pattern).

My wife wonders at my table manners sometimes,but she is making headway.(but only because I love her); 3/15/12, 5:36 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: But so what?

A certain type of person is offended merely because something exists, whether it matters or not. Do the germs in meat actually do anything?

Reminds me of the people who freak out about bits of plastics getting into everything, despite the lack of evidence that they are harmful.

I bet a lot of people at PETA purge regularly.; 3/15/12, 6:10 PM
Michael said...: I personally take occasions like this to order steak tartar. Peta is ridiculous.; 3/15/12, 6:26 PM
Michael K said...: My son, who is a lefty, says that, if you are buying meat in an open mercado in Mexico, be sure to choose the meat covered with flies. Why, you ask? Because the meat with no flies has been sprayed with Raid.

I wonder what PETA would say?; 3/15/12, 6:44 PM
maninthemiddle said...: Just a note. I was a zoology major back in college days, and worked in a beef packing plant one summer. Did so to load the beef and stay in shape, but the Federal inspectors found me and put me to work. I can tell you... at this plant, one hair down the line, one soiled carcus, anything, and the entire line was shut down.
No one wanted the blue hats coming down and accosting them for a work stoppage. Very clean place.; 3/15/12, 6:53 PM
Quaestor said...: I bet a lot of people at PETA purge regularly.

Ingrid Newkirk does have that jittery vegan bulimic look, does she not?

If first noticed this phenomena while a freshman. Lo, those many years ago there was a vegan restaurant I visited from time to time in an investigatory frame of mind called The Irregardless Cafe, a name which struck me as charming if heedlessly illiterate. They had an all-female staff.

The Irregardless claimed its vegan cuisine was health food, much better than the tasty poison offered by McDonalds, but I came to doubt it based on the appearance of the wait staff who were either routine partakers of the fare or else much better at baloney shooting (tofu slinging?) than average. They just didn't look healthy. They looked thin, raw-boned and nervous like 19th century shtetl women on the lookout for the next Cossack raid. They were all my age or a few years older, yet they looked already middle-aged -- crowfeet, spotty complexioned, with shortsightedness corrected by dopey wire rims.; 3/15/12, 8:28 PM
Bob_R said...: Yeah, an old saying from the beef industry - vegetarians don't live longer; they just look older...said the man on a paleo diet.; 3/15/12, 8:38 PM
Paul said...: I get PETA literature all the time. Makes good toilet paper all by itself.; 3/15/12, 9:13 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: It seems a strange offer.

Yes, PETA, we accept. Please send us your bum wipe paper with your messages on them so we can wipe our bums with it.; 3/16/12, 3:10 AM
iowan2 said...: No time now. Just a quick link to PETA and their deeply held convictions

Fifteen years’ worth of similar records show that since 1998 PETA has killed more than 27,000 animals at its headquarters in Norfolk, VA.

In a February 16 statement, the Center said PETA killed 1,911 cats and dogs last year, finding homes for only 24 pets.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/documents-peta-kills-more-than-95-percent-of-pets-in-its-care/#ixzz1pHJMZH17; 3/16/12, 6:29 AM
Rusty said...: Carnifex said...
My dad and I would butcher our own deer in the backyard.

And you have the added benefit of putting poo on it to your own liking!; 3/16/12, 7:42 AM
Joe said...: I once worked briefly as a volunteer in a non-profit slaughterhouse. It was very clean. The boss showed me the tests done for meat quality and bacteria and the place passed. Also, contrary to popular belief, the full-time people working there were big beef lovers (and knew the best cuts of meat.)

I felt they overly smoked their hot dogs.; 3/16/12, 9:44 AM