Swipe Ethics
how animal rights factor into every meal plan
PrintJohn Jay Dining Hall serves over 13,000 meals a week. But how many diners stop to consider the rights of the animals they’re consuming?
On a campus with students known for their political activism and penchant for complaining about everything, digs on the food at John Jay are common. Still, Columbians rarely take a critical look at the cafeteria’s animal rights policies. According to a survey conducted by PETA2 (the student version of PETA), 97 percent of 18- to 22-year-olds believe that animals should not be treated cruelly or made to suffer. So why aren’t more people aware of John Jay’s animal rights track record?
Dining Services Director Vicki Dunn says that the cafeteria bases its selections on what students ask for. It gauges diner preferences and student opinion by reading comment cards, listening to the Dining Advisory Committee, and holding focus groups. Judging by this policy, vegan and vegetarian diners will need to become a squeakier wheel before their needs are sufficiently met.
Activist groups on campus have seen some success by petitioning for better treatment of animals. Last year, due to the lobbying of Columbia Students for Animal Protection, Café 212 and Ferris Booth Commons began to sell only cage-free eggs. The eggs in John Jay are not cage-free, but they are certified humane.
The criteria eggs must meet to be called cage-free or humane are more vague than student activists may realize, though. According to the Humane Society, hens laying cage-free eggs are held inside barns or warehouses, but do not generally have access to the outdoors. They may engage in many natural behaviors like walking, nesting, and spreading their wings, but beak-cutting and forced molting through starvation are also permitted. Similarly, certified humane eggs are laid by hens that are uncaged but may still be kept indoors at all times. They can still perform natural behaviors, and there are also limitations on how many animals may be kept in one space. Beak-cutting is allowed, but forced molting is prohibited.
While increased attention directed at chicken farms has prompted these regulations, it seems that neither label—cage-free or humane—is perfect. Julian Franklin, a retired Columbia professor who used to teach an animal rights class, suggests that free-range eggs, a third distinction, are best. The Humane Society reports that “free-range,” as defined by the USDA, typically means that hens are not caged and have some degree of outdoor access. However, there are no requirements for the duration or quality of outdoor access, and beak-cutting and forced molting are permitted.
Free-range eggs also tend to be the most expensive. Michael Novielli, chief of administration for Student Auxiliary and Business Services, admits that there was some resistance even when cage-free eggs were first introduced. “There were some people who felt like they were fine with the eggs the other way, they wanted to pay a little bit less,” he says.
When it comes to fish, John Jay Dining Hall follows the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, which recommends sustainable seafood purchases. Dunn points out that the dining hall does not serve salmon because the aquarium recommends purchasing only wild-caught salmon, readily available only in Alaska and Washington.
Dunn also says that she has looked into serving grass-fed beef in the dining hall, but the cost is about 50 percent more than regular beef. She adds, “We haven’t had many requests for grass fed beef,” and that, in fact, red meat in general is not popular at the dining hall. “We have a lot of students that stay away from beef,” says Dunn.
Despite its efforts to remain proactive and open to student feedback, the dining hall could always improve its commitment to animal rights. Professor Franklin recommends that Dining Services also ensure that none of its meat suppliers are using gestation crates. A gestation crate is a 7-by-2-foot metal enclosure in which one female pig is confined during her pregnancy—and, in effect, for most of her adult life. Animal welfare advocates regard gestation crates as one of the most inhumane farming practices, and they have been banned in California, Arizona, and Florida.
Franklin acknowledges that truly considering animal rights while dining is costly, and that not all students would be willing to pay for more humane products. He suggests that a separate cafeteria providing a vast array of vegetarian options and animal welfare-conscious products might be an effective alternative to John Jay. This would allow prices at other locations to stay low even as conscientious eaters would have a chance to stay true to their values. Franklin does wonder, however, “if by forming a special unit the prospects in general for the movement are weakened. I can’t tell if you’re hindering the animal rights movement if you segregate,” he says.
Eric Risser, president of Columbia Students for Animal Protection, is in favor of the idea. As he says in an e-mail, “A purely vegetarian dining hall would mean a vegetarian chef who would be aware of and understand the nutritional concerns of a young vegetarian and could cater to those needs with meals which truly nourish the body and mind, instead of just feeding it.”
Building a new dining establishment is obviously not the only way for campus dining to improve. Progress still can be made even in small ways. After hearing a description of John Jay’s current salad bar, Franklin says, “At the very least, you could demand that they get some decent vegetables.”
23 April 2009
vol. 6, issue 11
More ARTS
No one wants to admit that they like playing video games.
Questioning Narrative Conventions
Jesse Ball's The Way Through Doors defies the strict classifications of genre—although it appears to be a novel, its dizzyingly complex narrative structure resembles poetry more than prose.
I didn’t consider running away from home until halfway through the third grade, when my mother bought me E.L. Konigsberg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Comments
We're looking for comments that are interesting and substantial. If your comments are excessively self-promotional, or obnoxious you will be banned from commenting. Consult the comment FAQ and legal terms.