On Thu, 11 May 2006 10:51:54 +0100, NeedforSwede2
> wrote:

>In article .com>,
says...
>> Personally, I have no problem whatsoever with people eating cats or
>> dogs, though I think that people who do not slaughter them humanely
>> should be warned once, and if caught a second time, should be severely
>> beaten. The third offense should be a capital crime.
>> People who torture animals are defective, and should be put down.
>>
>Totally agreed. One mans pet is another mans burger.
>But you are right, why the need for pain? Why the adrenaline bullshit?

Stress on the animal changes the consistency of the meat.
The US pork industry has a major problem with this. They
have bred themselves an uber-race of hypermuscular,
hyper-lean pig. The unfortunate side effect of this genetic
makeup is that the pigs startle and frighten severely with
great ease. Pigs have been known to die of shock from the
sound of someone driving a tractor past the shed in which
they are housed. Fear and stress leads to buildup of lactic
acid in muscle tissue. For pork, anyway, this results in
undesirable characteristics in the meat.