MOFB’s “Cut to the Chase” : Alas, the king was fed a whopper

The world’s second-largest hamburger chain announced it will phase in purchases of pork and eggs from suppliers who do not confine their animals in cages and crates. A Burger King spokesperson also said they would favor suppliers who use gas or ‘controlled-atmospheric stunning’ rather than electric shock to render chickens unconscious before slaughter.

Burger King admitted their moves were a result of pressure brought on the fast-food restaurant chain by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Although Burger King informed PETA of their decision nearly two weeks before the announcement was made public, they did not give agriculture organizations any prior notification.

I am not going to argue the pros or cons of Burger King’s decision – I’ll leave those arguments to groups such as PETA, who oppose current practices, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, which considers modern techniques totally appropriate for the welfare of the animals.

What I do question, however, is Burger King making such a major decision based on information from PETA without including and considering information from food producers. Even if I were the King, I would want to have all of the information presented to me by all sides of an issue before I brought forth an edict. Why didn’t Burger King invite farmers to the table?

At one time, the King considered the ‘landed gentry’ as part of the aristocracy, but now the King apparently views farmers as mere serfs, members of the lowest feudal class who are peasants bound to the land. Only the lords and ladies of the superior ‘ethical’ groups trying to place farmers into servitude were allowed to approach the King’s table.

Perhaps this was an acceptable way to treat sharecroppers and members of the peasantry in Middle Age Europe, but it does not sit well with farmers in the breadbasket of Midwest America.

The King bowed to pressure and paid homage to so-called animal rights groups, thinking appeasement would make the burger kingdom more secure; but the issue is not about animal rights at all – it is about human rights.

PETA’s goal is to make eating meat illegal, and they won’t stop until they overthrow all of the King’s houses and all of the King’s menus – and those of other restaurants in the food courts of the kingdom. Alas, the king was fed a whopper.

(Denny Banister, of Jefferson City, Mo., is the assistant director of public affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.)