From experience of visits to abattoirs/slaughterhouses during my years with HSE I can echo Clairel's comment that animals are not left to suffer a slow lingering death. However, I understand that transporting animals by lorry can cause them to become stressed and that the raised levels of hormones this causes can affect the taste of their meat after slaughter. Therefore, it is the norm for animals delivered to such premises to be rested (perhaps for a time which is linked to how far they have been transported) in pens/sheds which I think are known as lairages. Though there are apparently strict requirements about how the animals are kept physically, it's possible that they might still be affected by the smells and noises which seem to pervade such establishments.

On another note, I think someone mentioned on BBC TV's "Question Time" last night that some of the salami imported into Britain is made from donkey meat.

As regards processed meat, my family cat in the 1960s always turned its nose up at canned catfood but never refused the scraps which the local butcher's shop was happy to give away. The butcher said described the scraps as offal but our cat clearly thought they were delicious!

Finally for now, it is rumoured that beefburgers have been dropped from the menus in most company horsepitality suites! :-)

Well, this topic became a 'super Friday' topic. Plenty of chuckles, but it's time it went out to grass now.

It will now be locked.