One thing leads to another - as fate and destiny would have it

And the Fox said to the Prince -

“Men have forgotten this truth, but you must never forget it.

You become responsible, forever, what you have tamed.”

Antoine Saint-Exupery - 20th century French writer / poet

OPENING?

Highlighted below are non-conclusive time lines beginning with the plant-eating Neanderthals to the eventual emergence of 21st century veganism / vegetarianism.

Including too, the evolution / development of humane handling of feed animals / birds as per today's USDA / FSIS and that of EU requirements.

And finally, a closing message to Mr. Wayne Purcell - Former CEO / President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

580 BC?

Following the plant-eating Neanderthal’s, Greek philosopher/mathematician Pythagoras is credited by many with influencing the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle which then spread within Western philosophy that promoted not only avoidance of animal cruelty; but the benevolence among all species followed and encouraged of what could be described as a number of dietary prohibitions that included vegetarianism.

15th century

In 1641 French philosopher Rene Descartes wrote that animals, “eat without pleasure, cry without pain, grow without knowing it, they desire nothing, fear nothing, know nothing.”

18th century

1763 - Descartes compatriot Voltaire railed against the practice of routine vivisection in medical education on the basis that animals had the same “organs of feeling as in yourself.”

1789 - Amendment 1 of the United States Constitution which allows for 21st century religious slaughter at selected USDA / FSIS establishments. I’ve seen one too many cattle, goats, lamb among other feed animals slaughtered in the name of a deity - and I do not respect it. I think religious slaughtering IS cruel, selectively, and hold it to be true that every death by the knife to the neck of an animal is NOT humane.

Though I hold respect for all religions and as a tax paying / law-abiding USA citizen - I hold the right to my own free speech right to which I hold it to be true. Religious slaughtering is outdated and - cruel.

19th century

1839 - The etymology of vegetarian, which deduces a certain / unique, vegetable regimen or diet. The suffix – arian is that of a supporter or believer as in humanitarian. The earliest written use of vegetarian is attributed to an actress named, Ms. Fanny Kemble that’s within her Journal of a Residence that’s based on a Georgian plantation ante-bellum 1838-1839.

1866 – First animal protection in the USA, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) led by Henry Bergh.

• 1876 – The first law to regulate animal experimentation was the Cruelty to Animals Act that was passed by the Parliament of the UK during the reign (20 Jun. 20, 1837 – 22 Jan. 22 1901), of Queen Alexandria Victoria.

1877 – American Humane is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the welfare of and end of exploitation of children / animals.

1887 - Charles Darwin argued that the animal world, humans included, revealed not only anatomical and physiological similarities, but psychological ones as well.

20th century?

1906 – The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair that described the desperate working conditions of immigrants within the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the 20th century; including the inhumane treatment of cattle.

1906 – The passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 that was pushed by then President Teddy Roosevelt.

1944 – Donald Watson coined the term “vegan” when he co-founded the Vegan Society in war torn England. Initially Watson used the term to mean “non-dairy vegetarian,” however, in 1951 the society re-defined that their doctrine to - “man should live without exploiting animals.”

1947 – Living Legend Dr. Temple Grandin was born. A most remarkable woman.

1958 / 1978 – Humane Handling Acts with the latter 1978 being enforced by USDA / FSIS.

1966 – The original Animal Welfare Act including amendments of 1970, 1976, 1985, 1990, 2002, and 2008.......

1970s – The humane movement began to find its first respectful intellectual / ethical underpinning in the work of philosophers Peter Singer and Tom Regan in 2014.

1993 – Jack N’ The Box E. coli O157:H7 incident.

1997 – Stanley Prusiner received a Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of Proteinaceous Infectious particle (prions). An entirely new genre of disease causing “other” agents.

21st century

2002 / 03 – NAMI published their first Suggestive Humane Handling manual for harvesting establishments. FSIS /USDA does not mandate in 2022 that harvesting companies have in place a written go-to humane handling program - except of course - The AMS' National School Lunch Program.

2002 – The National School Lunch Program technical requirements for raw / frozen beef ground/trimmings and their stepped-up requirements involving written humane handling program, based on NAMI recommendations of cattle.

2004 – Specific Risk Materials (SRM’s) ruling (Mad cow disease) by FSIS / USDA in response to the cow that ruined Xmas back in ‘03.

2008 - The Westland / Hallmark Meat Company (WHMC) massive record red meat recall. The recall, like a stone thrown in a calm lake - created waves of change to the meat industry in more ways than just tonnage recall records.

2009 - The formation of the Animal Protection Caucus. A bipartisan group of more than 100 members of U.S. Congress.

2013 – European Union (EU) ruling / definition of “cage-free” for aviary systems.

2013 – In-vitro lab grown meat started.

2016 – The first plant based burger was sold from a retail meat case.

CONCLUSION

Several years after the closing of WHMC in 2008, I called Wayne Pacelle, former CEO/President of Humane Society of (the) United States (HSUS) who surprinsgly returned my call later the same day.

As a reminder, HSUS as directed by Wayne, had directed a young Canadian man to clandestinely record videos, with a fiber optic lens, of any feed animal abuse to help build HSUS cause of ending slaughter. WHMC was not this Canadians first choice, but they got exactly what they were seeking - and then some.

The talk went cordial. However, when Wayne mentioned about all the positives of exposing egregious treatments of livestock at WHMC, of which I agreed, he never once mentioned the plight of the 210 plus employees who lost their jobs.

Wayne if you happen to read this blog, which is highly unlikely, let me repeat to you what Saint-Exupery mentioned at the beginning, “... that men have forgotten this truth, but you must never forget it. You become responsible, forever what you have tamed.”

You forgot.

If your Canadian employee had informed WHMC at the initial time, (as the Canadian training records clearly showed that he was trained twice in less than 1 months time and signed and dated documents whereby he was to inform plant management immediately, if he ever was witness to inhumane handling of cattle - of which he failed to do.), minus the inveterate malice boiling within others and you, improvements to humane handling could have been accomplished with the same 210 people still employed.

Thanks to the WHMC debacle, it has since inspired others and myself to step into a most rewarding world of humane handling that led to becoming accredited humane handling auditors (PACCO) and advocates of robust humane handling programs - - - via the ways and legal means of following the Humane Handling Act passed by Congress and signed by several Presidents.

At the end of our conversation I had told you -

“ Karma and being anthropogenic methodically works both ways.

Homo sapiens are cherished by God, just as he cherishes other mammals, birds, and reptiles."

You heard me - but you didn't listen.

XTRA XTRA XTRA

Animals do not hold grudges - they just serve and serve and serve.

Steve Sayer is a 41-year veteran of the beef / poultry industry and a food safety / FDA / OSHA / Humane Handling and GFSI consultant representing Sayer Consulting / Auditing, LLC, San Clemente, California. Reach him [email protected].

WORD OF THE DAY

HISTORY

History unequivocally builds a better understanding of the world

How does the world work?

What causes societies to thrive or fail?

We can answer these questions by studying history.

History encompasses so many areas – medical history, Homo sapiens history, art history, economic history, etc. History can give us the fullest picture of how and perhaps why things unfolded as they did.

Perhaps most importantly - history also provides us with a better understanding of how we got to where you and I are in 2022 - and beyond.