[Vision2020] The Moscow Food Co-Op and Mad Cow

[Donovan Arnold]

    The Co-Op and Mad Cow
                Mr. London, last week attempted to tell everyone that the  Moscow Co-Op doesn’t use suppliers that ever mistreat and abuse animals.
  
  
"The Co-op has a clear commitment to selling only meat that
has been raised in a humane fashion."
http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2006-September/034975.html

     I took the liberty of looking at just two regular suppliers
of the Co-Op to demonstrate the invalidity his claims. 
                   The first company I looked at was Northwest Premium Meats,  LLC. Located in Nampa, Idaho. No website I could find. 
            The second company I looked at was The Diesel Family Ranch,  located in Sonora,  CA. www.diestelturkey.com
                 Northwest Premium Meat LLC, which is a current  meat supplier for the Co-Op, has been targeted and listed on vegetarian and  animals rights websites like this one; http://www.vegsource.com/talk/madcow/messages/1000556.html
                     In fact,  this supplier for the Co-Op was suspended for a period of time last year by the  USDA for violations related to 9 CFR Part 500.3, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/fact_sheets/fsis_food_recalls/index.asp
  as reported in the FSIS Quarterly Report;
       
          “On 7/26/05, a  suspension action concerning Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Specified  Risk Material was taken in accordance with 9 CFR Part 500.3.” 
      http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/QER_Q4_FY2005.pdf
                Bovine Spongiform  Encephalopathy is also more commonly known as Mad Cow Disease http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/bsefaq.html  . Setting aside the huge potential health issues here had FSIS not come to the  rescue, this does directly relate to the mistreatment of animals. Animal rights  activists have made a big issue of this practice for a long time, especially  since the recent outbreaks of Mad Cow in the United States that have been hushed  up and the government has cut funding to find and stop.  http://organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm   
               
          The Diesel  Family Ranch, www.diestelturkey.com  which supplies the Co-Op with poultry products and boasts a great view and open  space for its turkeys, has also had a run in with animal rights groups for  snapping off the turkey’s beaks. In fact, in Sonora, California,  where the ranch is located, it is illegal to clip off the beaks of birds unless  the animal is going to going to be processed for consumption, which these  animals are going to be. However, that doesn’t mean the animals don’t suffer  the same consequences for a clipped beak just because they are not called  someone’s pet. Those that have has birds know beaks are a vital tool for  animals for cleaning, health, preening, straightening feathers, and preening  other birds to build needed social relationships. http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/11.21.02/thanksgiving-0247.htm
                       
        My point here is not to pick on the Co-Op as being an animal  abuser. My point is that Mr. London is obviously unaware of some of the  suppliers the Co-Op has and what they do, or is not aware of what constitutes animal’s  abuse or cruelty. If Mr. London believes chopping beaks off birds or buying  from suppliers that have gotten federal suspensions for not controlling Mad Cow  is not violating animal rights and a "clear commitment to selling only meat that has been raised in a humane fashion,"  he has the right to  adopt that personal use definition.  
       However, according the definitions of animal rights groups  like PETA www.peta.org ,  environmental groups like the Organic Consumers Association http://organicconsumers.org/madcow.htm  , and the Federal Government http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/QER_Q4_FY2005.pdf  ,  at least some of the suppliers for the  Co-Op are not being humane toward the animals they are raising.
  
   
          Bovine Appetite,
          _DJA
    
 		
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