Veterinarian Bud Stuart was delighted when he was given a live lobster by a client as extra thanks for saving a dog -- at least until the Santa Barbara seafood lover thought about cooking it.
Stuart put the lobster in the freezer, expecting the chill would anesthetize it. Yet, when he later held it above a boiling pot of water, it was still alive and pinching. The crustacean was tasty, but he now vows "never to bring another live lobster into this house. It was one of the most traumatic things I have done."
Stuart credits the lobster with making him think more about how the food he eats is raised. He no longer consumes foie gras -- fatty liver produced by overfeeding ducks and geese -- and now "supports in any way I can the humane treatment of food animals."
Americans are increasingly picky about what they eat -- especially when it comes to the ways that farm animals are killed, processed, sold and served as food. And U.S. businesses are catching on.
Fast-food chains are changing the way they purchase pork and eggs; chefs are dropping ingredients not seen as animal friendly; farmers and slaughterhouses are changing how they treat livestock; and one grocery store chain is adding animal-welfare ratings to its meats.
Last month, the nation's largest meat processor, Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Ark., said the fresh chicken brand it sold in stores would come from birds raised without antibiotics.
"According to our research, 91% of consumers agree it's important to have fresh chicken produced and labeled 'raised without antibiotics,' " Chief Executive Richard Bond said.
Fast-food giant Burger King Holdings Inc. said in March that it would buy more eggs and pork from farms that gave animals more living space.
Following protests, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announced this year that he would eliminate foie gras from the menus of Spago and 14 other fine-dining restaurants.
Later this year, Whole Foods Market Inc., the natural and organic grocery chain, plans to introduce a multitiered rating system on its meat and poultry that focuses on specific measures of animal treatment.
To be sure, animal welfare issues aren't new. For decades, activists have protested the killing of dolphins by factory-scale tuna fishing. The Humane Society of the United States launched its campaign against foie gras production in 1992.
