ottawa foodies

I have not read this yet though I'm already very familiar with the massive pollution created by the commercial pork industry - even in Canada

www.rollingstone.com

I'm almost completely weaned off supermarket pork, but not quite 100% yet.

Wow, pretty shocking!

Ew.

I think I need more time to process a lot of the article, to say more.

Sadly, it's only more depth of things mentioned in the Fast Food Nation book. There's nothing in this article mentioning where the pork is going - how much is supplied to fast food or chain restaurants? I'd be curious.

Even downplaying the obvious alarming tone, it's still pretty digusting... going on google maps and "flying" over some of the rivers mentioned shows it pretty well, too. The farms are right next to the river basin. A lot of them. And yes, on many, the water is pinkish... or of a tone of red which liquids should not be.

That was more propaganda then magazine article. I don't question any of the issues created by mass food production, but that was an extremely biased piece of writing.

Unless you know otherwise for sure, it is statistically probably pretty safe to assume that the pork you buy at the supermarket was produced like this. I know it is a huge problem in Canada as well as the US. The hog producers here do not have to treat the sewage, either. For small producers like the one I buy from, that is not an issue because production is low enough that the local environment can just deal with it naturally. But once you get up to one of the factory farms it is a completely different story.

One statistic I read says that 95% of animals raised for human consumption in Canada are raised this way. So if you are in doubt, then you are almost certainly buying this product or one exactly like it.

That story is rough. I have been on big operations in southern Ontario and can say that while it might not always be pretty, it certainly isn't as bad as the writer paints N.Carolina. I have no idea what big feedlots/farms are like out West though.

Has anyone seen the 'naturally raised' pork sold in PC-affiliated grocery stores, it might be trademarked "Free From" or something like that. I bought some although I was a bit skeptical of the overall claims and picture of the farmer on the packaging...it certainly would be nice if their was a butcher in town who only dealt with small scale operations.

I think it's funny because in the adverts, Tracinho, it's advertised as "Free From Pork"... to which I asked myself... "then what is it?"!

Laverne is somewhat midsized. I know Aubrey's get most/all of their pork from Lavergne.

I can't bear yet to look at this...my grandfather had a small farm and each summer I fed and played with the 6-8 pigs he raised. Pigs are smart, funny and intelligent. Growing up with regular access to a farm we knew what it was all about in the end, (food) but my favourite chore was feeding the pigs. And raised in a good environment, pigs prefer clean. They like to play, socialize and will come when called (like a dog); They do not sweat so hence look dirty-mud cools. A coat of mud cools them off, they prefer cool dirt/mud. They do not do well in a "large, farmed situation". And do remember, they are closest in DNA to primates! Large, nasty farms lead to disease-check out chickens! And my grandpa had them in a pen--the free range ones must be awesome!