"These are animals that they have reared, fed, looked after, cared for. To actually then kill something that's perfectly healthy to then go in the bin - it's just criminal," the head of the National Pig Association told Sky News.
news.sky.com
Pure political bullshit. If there's such a "shortage" of butchers at commercial slaughterhouses, it's time to start dropping them off at homeless shelters and similar places. While an amateur is likely to waste some meat, a hog ain't that hard to rough-butcher, and at least it gets put to use, even if the cuts aren't picture-perfect, or some gets wasted by incomptent butchery. Typical government interference fucking with things in the name of ... Well, frankly, I don't know WHAT the hell it would be "in the name of" these days. Even my granny knew how to spot and reject measly pork, and before I owned my first rifle, I knew just as well. Trichinosis - the primary "threat" from uninspected/amateur-butchered hogs - in on-the-hoof hogs is barely worth talking about today, and is usually taken care of as part of normal worming practices. Cases in humans are nearly nonexistent unless you're talking third-world countries. Even there, it's a zero-risk concept as long as you actually COOK the damned meat! There's a reason - known for years - no, screw that, *CENTURIES* - that pork is supposed to be served "well done". But the idiots of today... Hell, don't get me started on the dumbing-down of humanity... In the unlikely case that a human gets it, trichinosis might not be FUN, but it can be treated easily, effectively, and amazingly cheaply, with easily available drugs, and it's a "self-inflicted wound" - don't eat undercooked pork or game animals, and you'll never get it!
(I recall reading somewhere that in America, better than 90% of all diagnosed cases of Trichinosis actually come from hunters or their families eating undercooked BEAR or RACCOON - So few cases are pig-based anymore that it's damned hard to count them. Personally, I'm not going to take the chance - my pork (and bear, the last time I had it) gets cooked to death - period.)
Then again, I'm forgetting reality:
Way too many people today exist under the delusion that pork chops (or sirloin steaks, or hamburgers, or...) grow on trees, and they're ready to harvest when the clear plastic film closes all the way around the styrofoam...
