As a meat eater I realize I can’t have it both ways. My main point is the mistreatment of workers and the poor processing that goes into too many Big Ag meats. When I look at the plastic deli meats in grocery stores these days and compare them to the glorious cuts I grew up with, it sickens me. My post is merely a suggestion to make educated decisions when buying food, specifically meat. BTW, thanks for the helpful links, particularly the Mike Jones link to maefarmmeats.com.

[If you wonder how there is no trademark infringement without a connection between the two, I seem to recall reading some years back that it was because he started the chain in Smithfield, N.C., in Johnston County, and as long as he didn’t step on their logo or otherwise claim endorsement or affiliation the big company, from Smithfield, Virginia, originally, didn’t have recourse as they aren’t in the restaurant biz and trademarks are industry/product sector-specific, as well as to some extent limited by state lines.]

Anyway, all that fun stuff aside, unless Smithfield Foods has recently purchased Smithfield Management Company, perhaps as a bargain following Mr. Moore’s legal tribulations, you can rest as easily as anyone can while eating barbecue - which after all is always the result of the slaughter of a smart and charming member of the porcine species. And pretty much all factory-farmed meat products, from shrimp and catfish to the millions of pigs, chickens, turkeys, and more recently, goats, (although they haven’t gotten promoted to the statistics page yet)
http://www.ncagr.com/stats/2007AgStat/LivestockSlaughterBySpecies.pdf
that are slaughtered annually in North Carolina, most of them within 100 miles of Wilmington, involve human suffering in the production. It is just a filthy, disgusting, demoralizing business and for that reason is the main employer of immigrants from Mexico and Central America who have flocked to this state in the past 25 years, although there are also plenty doing construction/landscaping, etc. Smithfield Foods’ “happy-worker” ads recently were nothing more than institutional advertising, to boost the company’s image among viewers.

You can’t have it both ways. If you want to eat meat, an animal has to have been killed first, because we don’t want to eat the ones that just died. Niman Ranch meats, and probably some others available at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, et al, are humanely raised and slaughtered, and worth buying if you are concerned. Finally, for fast food that is humane, get the pork selections at Chipotle (which is no longer owned by McDonald’s, by the way) as they use only Niman Ranch pork. There are some Niman Ranch and other humane pork producers in North Carolina, and other restaurants that use Niman Ranch meats, as well as more acceptable beef and poultry producers, so give them a look.
http://www.lucky32.com/niman_wsjournal.htm
http://www.nimanranch.com/control/faq
http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/this-little-piggie-went-to-market/

Been half-conscious of the porcine atrocities, and this distills it nicely. I had no idea that Smithfields was so close by. I keep wondering if all these reports about food contamination — and it’s not just meat — are going to force the moment to its crisis, bring about some tectonic shift in our attitudes about eating and food transparency, labels, food miles? (viz. Locavore redux)

You can’t turn around without seeing horrifying news about food products and the conditions that production at this scale forces (?).