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Kill and Chill

Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain
May 18, 2012HereHere rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An excellent, academic book about cattle and beef production in Canada. Procedures are different in eastern and western provinces (e.g. albertans tend to castrate using jacknkives; out east, they prefer clamping to cut the cords; some apply elastics to newborn calves to cut off blood supply). Consumer choices at the checkout influences how the industry operates whether or not it is rational or unpredictable. Consumers are manipulated to buy more meat by labeling meat in more 'succulent' terms, emphasizing cost per serving rather than cost per kilo, etc. A great section on how meat is graded in Canada, in case you ever wondered about the criteria. Treatment and demographics of the slaughterhouse workers. Consumption pattern/trends and graphs, including historical information. One interesting message was that what happens in the US ag policy usually trickles up to Canada.