Do you know what
happens to the food you don’t eat at a restaurant? If you happen to be eating
at a small non-chain restaurant in a rural area, the leftovers probably go into
a slop bucket. The food is saved for someone who picks it up every couple of days and uses it to feed their pigs. The leftovers are not given to a large factory farm, but to an
individual with a few pigs.
“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us.
Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals” - Sir Winston Churchill
The average American eats approximately 50lbs
of pork every year. More than likely, that pork originates from a factory farm where the pigs are housed in gestation crates for their entire lives. Know where your food comes from, there are plenty of youtube videos about the horrors that take place on factory farms.
All of
the following rules and definitions come from: Volume 1, Title 9, Chapter 1,
Part 166.1-167.10 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
According
to the FDA, the food in the slop bucket is not fit for the consumption of
swine. It is cooked food that is off limits for the pigs unless it is re-cooked
for 30min. In many states (Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota,
Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin)
feeding any garbage to swine is completely prohibited, but in the state of NC
feeding of re-cooked garbage is permissible.
What is
garbage?
Garbage – All waste material
derived in whole or in part from the meat of any animal (including fish and
poultry) or other animal material, and other refuse of any character whatsoever
that has been associated with any such material, resulting from the handling,
preparation, cooking or consumption of food, except that such term shall not
include waste from ordinary household operation which is fed directly to swine
on the same premises where such household is located.
In other
words, it is illegal for you to give your own neighbor table scraps for their
hogs. I like how meat is referred to as “material” and the other food which may
have been associated with the “material” is called “refuse of any character
whatsoever.” It sounds like a strange insult to food or something you say to
your children about not associating with those other children who have a refuse
character.
Who is
responsible for the refuse of any character whatsoever that has been associated
with any such material?
Any operator, manager or person
in charge of a restaurant, café, boardinghouse, school, hospital, or other
public or private place where food is served to persons other than members of
the immediate family or nonpaying guests of such operator, manager, or person
in charge, shall not allow or permit garbage to be removed from the premises
thereof unless the person removing said garbage is in possession of a valid
garbage-feeding permit issued by the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services, or unless such person removing said garbage is in possession of a
document from the county department of health wherein such garbage located
stating that the person removing said garbage is authorized to dispose of such
garbage n a legal manner or unless such person removing said garbage is an
employee of a municipality engaged in the regular collection of garbage for
said municipality.
First of
all, whoever wrote this should receive some kind of longest sentence award.
According to this rule, it seems that if you have a large party at your house
and charge a small fee for a food bill, and happen to produce “said garbage”
then allow one of your guests to take leftovers home, you may be in violation
of the law. It also seems less illegal if someone simply steals the “refuse of
any character whatsoever that has been associated with such material” than it
is for them to politely ask for the “said garbage.” I see nothing in the rules
which states stealing garbage is illegal; therefore, it must not be illegal
because if it were it would clearly be written in a statement like:
“If any
such individual is apprehended while displacing the said garbage from the
premises of a restaurant, café, boardinghouse, school, hospital or other public
or private place where food is served to persons other than members of the
immediate family or nonpaying guests then the said individual will face charges
under penalty of law (Volume 8 pg. 3849.7 Bureaucratic Nonsense, 1984, c.834,
s. 8).”
I will
give the writer of the law an A+ for making up the most extravagant job
description for garbage men I have ever read. Maybe if I ever happen to have a
job as a garbage woman, I will write down my previous experience as:
I was
previously employed by a municipality engaged in the regular collection of
refuse of any character and material. I was also authorized to dispose of the
said refuse and material in a legal manner.
I find it funny that nickname for the
government “Uncle Sam” originated from a pork packer.
During the War of 1812, a New York
pork packer named Uncle Sam Wilson shipped a boatload of several hundred
barrels of pork to U.S. troops. Each barrel was stamped "U.S." on the
docks. The "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam" whose shipment
seemed large enough to feed the entire army. This is how "Uncle Sam"
came to represent the U.S. Government.
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