In a triumph for animal welfare, the U.S. Court for the District of Kansas has ruled that the state’s “ag-gag” law violates the First Amendment and is therefore unconstitutional.
Challenged in 2018 by a coalition led by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the law bans undercover investigators from taking photographs or filming animal facilities, such as slaughterhouses and factory farms, ultimately preventing the documentation of animal abuse.
On January 22, the U.S. Court for the District of Kansas rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case and accepted the majority of the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, thus prohibiting Kansas from implementing the Ag Gag law.
ALDF maintains that the almost 30-year-old legislation prevents undercover activists from investigating inhumane conditions at animal facilities, stifling free speech. This enables unscrupulous companies to hide systemic animal abuse and avoid public scrutiny.
“For 30 years, Kansas lawmakers have suppressed whistleblowers from investigating cruel conditions on factory farms with this unconstitutional law,” explains ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells. “Today’s decision is a victory for the millions of animals raised for meat on factory farms.”
ALDF explained the importance of undercover investigations in both regulatory practice and public informational awareness.
“It is critical that investigations are not suppressed,” the organization said in a statement. “The public relies on undercover investigations to expose illegal and cruel practices on factory farms and slaughterhouses. No Federal laws govern the condition in which farmed animals are raised, and laws addressing slaughter and transport are laxly enforced.”
“Undercover investigations are therefore the primary avenue through which the public receives information about animal agriculture operations,” ALDF continued. “Investigations also reveal health and worker safety violations. Factory farms and slaughterhouses are major polluters, so undercover investigations are important for learning about violations of environmental laws as well.”
This victory in Kansas follows other federal courts in Idaho, Iowa and Utah ruling that those states’ ag-gag laws also violate the U.S. Constitution.
In a hip hotel in Chicago’s West Loop, nestled among more Michelin-starred restaurants than I can count, KFC has presented me with a carefully plated presentation of chubby chicken chunks on a rectangular white plate. The first is your standard, plain tan. The second, a honey BBQ. The third, drenched in buffalo sauce. And the final features an oily coating of Nashville hot spice.
Sitting amid lavish bouquets of bell peppers, turnips, Brussels sprouts, and other vegetables, I take my first bite of vegan* KFC.
KFC’s new Beyond Fried Chicken will be available in nearly 100 stores in Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville; and surrounding areas from February 3 to February 23. Produced by Beyond Meat exclusively for KFC, if it sells and customers like it, a nationwide release will follow at an undisclosed date.
Back in Chicago in my fancy tasting room, a 3-foot-tall cutout of the Colonel himself looks on from a green wall as I tried the undressed plant nugget for the first time. My teeth pierce the crunchy fried coating and shred through the meat.
It tastes like a doggone piece of chicken—and not just any piece of chicken, but a KFC piece of chicken with hints of those 11 herbs and spices. I fork and knife my way through the honey BBQ (perfectly too sweet, and the coating still crunchy), the buffalo (a touch vinegary for my taste but offering the uncanny aftertaste of chicken), and the Nashville (the deep pepper flavor has respectable heat that hits me a delightful 10 seconds later).
KFC and Beyond Meat executives are waiting to be interviewed, and I look at the four remaining pieces there on the plate, realizing this is the best faux chicken I’ve eaten in the last five years of eating mostly vegan. Would it be uncouth to keep going, to meet Ethan Brown, CEO of Beyond Meat, with BBQ sauce on my hoodie? (I opt to stop. Though I regret later that I didn’t finish.)
KFC adopting Beyond Meat is not necessarily the biggest coup for fake meats in fast food: Last year, Beyond Meat has already snuck its breakfast sausage into sandwiches and bowls at Dunkin’ (the fourth most popular chain in the U.S.) while fierce competitor Impossible landed the Whopper at Burger King (the sixth). But while KFC is smaller than either of these chains (at 12th place), it certainly feels like a sign of the times that a company that’s literally named “Kentucky Fried Chicken” will be selling chicken with no literal chicken in it. No wonder the alternative meat industry is projected to grow to $140 billion in a decade.
As Andrea Zahumensky, CMO of KFC U.S. tells me, KFC has been eyeing meat replacements for a while, but no product in the category seemed mature enough to work. That was until last year when talks with Beyond Meat began in earnest, and the two companies struck up a deal to co-develop a product. The process has taken about six months.
The target customer isn’t just vegans or vegetarians, but flexitarians—people who might eat meat but would like to cut back on how much they consume. As a recent Kroger study found, 93% of people who bought Beyond Burger had other animal proteins in their cart. And for KFC, which has been posting solid revenue and profits, though failing to have its Popeyes Chicken Sandwich moment, the product offers the opportunity to bring in a new, younger audience.
The chicken is good enough that I suspect it will. But getting to this point was difficult. Beyond Meat’s chicken product is completely custom for KFC—which is unique; the Impossible Whopper at Burger King and sliders at White Castle are the standard blend. The company went through countless iterations on the protein, ultimately opting, not for a ground, spongey protein, but something more akin to whole breast muscle tissue. As Brown demonstrates, picking apart a nugget with his fingers, Beyond Fried Chicken flakes and shreds. (It’s anything but the grill-marked homogenous slabs of Beyond Chicken I bought from the freezer aisle years ago.) The meat is marinated to improve texture and impart extra KFC flavor. Meanwhile, KFC worked on the breading, opting for a coat that was similar to the company’s popcorn chicken. It all comes together in a factory, before the product is shipped to KFC locations and deep fried to food safe temperatures, just like meat would be. This final fry is also key to denaturing the proteins, and giving the chicken the right mouthfeel, I’m told.
I was surprised that KFC is opting to present its plant-based chicken so naked, as a product that could be eaten plain, dipped, or tossed in sauce. Why not release a Beyond Meat Fried Chicken Sandwich that could hide any off flavours with a bun, veggies, and extra condiments? The vegan chick’n sandwiches I’ve eaten at restaurants for years do just this, and often to a convincing effect.
“Our customers expect KFC to have a certain flavour, [and] to be flavourful. Doing it in a form like this allows that flavor to shine and the texture to shine,” says Zahumensky—who implies that a bun or extra accoutrements would have just gotten in the way of this result.
One other curious part of the design is the shape. McDonald’s famously uses “bell, ball, bone and boot” moulds in their nugget designs, to create a sensation somewhere between chicken as factory-processed food and unique, organic snowflakes. For KFC’s Beyond Fried Chicken, each chunk of chicken has a geometry that’s tougher to describe. I jot down the term “warbly square” in my notes. Some pieces look like wing flats. Others look like a sort of fried tamagotchi keychain.
“It’s some kind of nugget-like boneless wing-like, more premium than a nugget [thing],” says Zahumensky. Indeed, originally this shape was even called a “boneless wing” during an early market test in Atlanta. Fans lined up around the block, but they got feedback: Plants don’t have bones so they can’t be boneless. “That’s why we test,” Zahumensky laughs at the company’s error. “We’re trying to learn.”
In the future, Beyond Meat could shape this chicken however KFC wants. For now, it’s clear the company is going for something more premium than a chicken nugget—but they can’t call it a wing. Chicken cube? Chicken tesseract? Don’t be surprised to see more testing from KFC in the future, regarding both the shape of its plant chicken and its branding.
Whatever shape and name Beyond Fried Chicken takes when it eventually hits stores nationwide, the product they have ready to trial today is superb. As I leave the meeting, the flavors of KFC are still left on my tongue. And I’m left with a new revelation about the future of fake meats.
Some people don’t like Beyond Meat for its uncanny resemblance to real meat. Others frown upon eating plant meats when the real stuff is so delicious and plentiful. (Both of these perspectives are fair; what you put into your mouth is entirely your business.) But Beyond Fried Chicken demonstrates that KFC is more food as brand than it is food as chicken. KFC as we know it in our mind’s eye is an experience that transcends the quibbles, “Is this real meat?” to ask, “Is this authentic KFC?” And Beyond Fried Chicken certainly is as guilty, salty, chewy, herbaceous, and umami-loaded of an experience as the KFC you know.
Though now I’d like some the Extra Tasty Crispy and Original Recipe versions, thanks!
* Beyond Fried Chicken is fried in the same fryers as KFC’s meat-based fried chicken. So much like Burger King’s Impossible Whopper, some people may have issue with call this “vegan.”
Donald Trump Jr to speak at world’s largest trophy hunt convention
First son to sell a bid for a hunting trip with him in Alaska during convention next we
The first son and top campaign surrogate to Donald Trump was set to attend the Safari Club International’s annual three-day convention in Reno, Nevada, where he was scheduled to speak on 8 February.
Posted on January 30, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
January 29, 2020
France has announced that it will ban the controversial practice of live-shredding male chicks by 2021, as well as ending the castration of piglets without anaesthesia.
THE DETAILS: Every year around the world, billions of male chicks in the egg industry are killed by industrial agricultural farmers as they are considered useless by both egg and poultry producers since they do not lay eggs and aren’t the breed used for meat production. The practice of chick culling includes the brutal method of live-shredding, where chicks are ground up alive in a giant, high-speed grinder.
Similarly every year, millions of piglets suffer through the horrible procedure of castration without anesthesia to encourage them to grow fatter and prevent a potent smell said to emit from the fatty meat of non-neutered pigs.
A MAJOR VICTORY: Aside from the ghastly process of killing chicks by shredding, many are also gassed, electrocuted, or asphyxiated in plastic bags.
With the announcement from France’s Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume, the country will be one of the first to ban the mass culling of chicks using any of these methods, and the castration of piglets without anesthesia.
France joins Switzerland and Germany in similarly banning chick shredding, though a German court ruled last year that shredding could continue until a method was found to determine the sex of an embryo in the egg.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: “This announcement is big news for animals and paves the way for the introduction of similar legislation in other countries. Chick culling is a cruel practice that does not belong in modern and compassionate societies.” says Sharon Núñez, President of Animal Equality.
WHAT COMES NEXT: While we celebrate this tremendous victory for farmed animals in France, the reality is that billions of animals suffer every year in countries around the world, and sadly, the United States remains as one of the countries still using the horrible practice of live-shredding. Your voice and consumer choices are crucial to ending these terrible atrocities. Please share this post and encourage your friends and family to stop using animal products.
And I mean…When I turn on the computer every morning, I have a bad feeling about what I’m going to read, mostly it’s a new animal suffering.
It was different today.
We have reported so many times about the fascist system that prevails in most slaughterhouses around the world, which means: massacring live chicks and castrate piglets without anesthesia.
France went a step ahead and decided to abolish these medieval methods.
The meat and milk mafia made in Germany has found a loyal ally, Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner, who supports the massacre and has extended both medieval methods.
We have a humorous so-called “animal protection law” here in Germany. It says:
“Nobody is allowed to cause pain, suffering or harm to an animal for no reasonable reason.”
The farmer’s lobby and making money are reasonable reasons for the Minister of Agriculture and therefore the massacre of these animals goes on.
Posted on January 29, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
At Europe’s largest hunting fair “Hunting and Dog”(Dortmund, January 28 to February 2), hunters can book excursions at the fair that include the shooting down of endangered and protected species such as polar bears, rhinos, elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes and monkeys, brown bears and wolves – quite legally.
“We are currently experiencing the greatest loss of species since the dinosaurs went extinct, and many animal populations have already collapsed. Nevertheless, wealthy hobby hunters can shoot threatened and protected animals, as in colonial times. This senseless killing out of sheer greed for status symbols must finally come to an end ”. Daniela Freyer from Pro Wildlife.
Exhibitors from Germany and more than 40 countries are represented at the “Hunting and Dog” fair, dozens sell hunting safaris all over the world and attract visitors with stuffed animals, hunting films and special offers.
“Corruption and mismanagement in the hunting sector are the order of the day in many countries. Lucrative profits mean that even the last animals with a magnificent trophy are mercilessly pursued”, says Daniela Freyer.
Trophy hunters are not only targeting rare species, they are also competing to shoot down the largest and strongest individuals.
When hunting abroad, methods are also used that are prohibited here in Germany.
Hunters are allowed to kill animals with bows and arrows, crossbows or muzzle-loaders, rush them with dogs, chase them with vehicles or bait big cats with dead animals.
In South Africa it is still allowed to breed lions and other animals, to raise them by hand and to have the adult animals shot down in fenced-off enclosures by trophy hunters (so-called “canned hunting”).
Up to 10,000 lions vegetate there in hunting farms.
Background:
Hobby hunters from Germany and Spain are among the leaders in the hunt for endangered and protected species after the Americans.
In Africa alone, around 18,000 foreigners go trophy hunting each year, killing more than100,000 wild animals.
– Every year hunting trophies of hundreds of endangered and internationally protected animals are imported to Germany.
– Even strictly protected species that cannot be traded commercially can be imported as trophies for “private use” with official approval.
– According to a representative opinion poll, 86 percent of the population in Germany rejects hobby hunting for endangered species. In the Netherlands, the importation of trophies from endangered species is prohibited, in France at least for lions. The UK government is also currently planning a ban.
Exhibitors offer kills of turtle doves, puffins and songbirds (!!!)
Bird protectors criticize the fact that the organizer Messe Dortmund GmbH also offers companies a platform at the “Hunting and Dog” trade fair that offers endangered migratory birds such as turtles – bird of the year 2020 -, quail and songbirds in southern Europe or the Balkans.
As reported by the Committee Against Bird Murder (CABS), biologists have evaluated the list of exhibitors at the fair in recent weeks and have come across a total of eight companies that have made killing European migratory birds a business model for a fee.
For example, the three tour operators “Absolute Hunting & Wingshooting”,“Diana Hunting Tours” and “Merle Hunting Travel” offer kills of turtle pigeons in Romania and Serbia.
The French company “Séjour Chasse” offers wealthy customers the opportunity to shoot blackbirds and thrushes in France in autumn or rare double-tailed godwits in Russia.
If you prefer to shoot migrating songbirds near Madrid or aim at godwits in Armenia, contact the company “ICC Hunting Pleasure”!
Several exhibitors advertise the hunt for wild quail in the Balkans, including the German companies“K&K Premium Hunting Travel” and “Merle- Hunting Travel”.
The latter company demands 1,150 euros for a four-day “hunting arrangement quail hunt” in Romania and advertises that hunters can count on the shooting of 40 wild quail per day.
For hunters who want to kill rare seabirds in Iceland, the German company “Malepartus Hunting Travel” has the right offer in the program.
For a flat rate of 1,040 euros, you can shoot two days from the boat on puffins, fulmares and guillemots – if you are traveling by yourself. There is also a hunt for snipe in Ireland and Scotland, which is advertised in the catalogs of the companies “Blaser Safaris” or “Diana Hunting Tours”.
Turtles, quail and snipe have decreased in large parts of the EU in recent years and are protected with great effort in Germany and its neighboring countries, according to the Committee against bird murder.
“The shooting down of endangered migratory birds destroys complex conservation projects in the breeding areas, accelerates the decline of these species and can never be sustainable,” said committee manager Alexander Heyd.
The committee has therefore recommended in writing to Messe Dortmund GmbH today to separate itself from the exhibitors concerned at the “Hunting and Dog” trade fair.
The State Hunting Association, which officially acts as the “ideal sponsor” of the fair, was also asked to clearly distance itself from hunting endangered migratory birds and to exclude the eighth exhibitor from the fair.
My comment: The hunters always create the terror they need.
It seems like any animal in any country can be shoot down if one is an asshole and ready to pay the price: ibex in Kazakhstan, wild boar in Turkey, sable antelope in Argentina. Or warthogs in Mauritania, four days, five animals, 2800 euros.
A buffalo in South Africa, seven days, 11,800 euros. An elephant from Zimbabwe, on the other hand, already costs $ 34,500. The shooting of a giraffe should cost 1,500 euros, the mountain zebra 900 euros, a jackal 50 euros….
Wild animals are listed as surpluses to be reduced, as individualized evil, as the suspect guilty party that needs to be destroyed.
In the European Union, more than 53 million wild birds are legally shot down by hunters every year, including numerous species that are critically endangered in Germany.
In addition, there is an unknown number of animals that are killed each year in countries without evaluable data (Greece, Netherlands, Ireland and Great Britain) and outside the study area in the Mediterranean region or in Africa.
The battlefield is everywhere and what is a necessary act of killing is determined by the one who wants to carry it out.
Posted on January 29, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
We want to show you the latest videos we have received from our good and very well respected friends at ‘Animal Aid Unlimited’ in India. What these guys do to help save animals is amazing; as with everything they send to us; the videos show the full story, from terrible suffering starts through to completely transformed animals at the end. Enjoy watching these latest videos – bad starts but always happy endings !
Regards Mark
Read the stories and watch the videos of the amazing recoveries at:
Posted on January 29, 2020 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Are you so selfish as to only stop eating the corpses of innocent animals solely out of fear of infectious diseases?
The consumption of animal body parts has been linked to diseases like mad cow disease, bird flu, swine flu and, most recently, the coronavirus, whose origins are believed to trace back to a Chinese meat market in the city of Wuhan.
The virus has infected more than 2,700 people and killed 80 as of last Sunday.
Do we need a pandemic for the most selfish people in modern times to stop consuming animal flesh and secretions? And what happens, if the pandemic is over?
Some people have suggested going “vegan” due to these concerns, but here’s the thing: there are no vegans out of FEAR, just like there are no vegans “for health” or “the environment”.
People go vegan for justice; plant-based for other reasons. Veganism is not a diet, but a rejection of all animal use and exploitation for human purposes.
The reason why we defend the term veganism so vehemently is that the word is supposed to convey an ethical stance and defend the rights of the most innocent and oppressed: non-human animals.
(Anonymous for the voiceless)
And I mean…Ultimately, from a political and financial perspective, it will be considerably cheaper to let a seriously ill, amoral and infantile society dissolve in indignation, agitation and victim mentality than to find new, climate and animal friendly ways to advance us as humans.
There is only one being who has the right to judge people: a being of great wisdom, foresight and infallibility.
A being full of justice and kindness: one yourself!
Of course, there are always plenty of basics to “judge” others, but the important thing is that you can only judge others, yourself.
– Of course you should boycott China, they eat everything, you only eat the right ones: cattle, sheep, rabbits, chickens, fish, goats …
– The Chinese eat and torture dogs. We have decent factory farming here, but you`re against factory farming, love animals and that’s why you eat a little meat.
With a well-manipulated brain and conscience, such otherwise common viral diseases can lead to a welcome outrage and aggression that ultimately work in favor of the ruling animal exploiters.
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 