The FDA Slaughtering Laws

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates many of the processes by which animals are slaughtered, the Food and Drug Administration also has considerable responsibility for enforcing laws related to the meat that is served to consumers. Most of these statutes pertain to the adulteration of meat---before, during and after the slaughtering of the animal---and often relate to the manner in which the animal is slaughtered.

Animal Feed

• Much of the food ingested by animals destined for slaughter will eventually be ingested in some form by consumers. So the FDA regulates and enforces what can be fed to animals. Laws are formed with the intent of minimizing harm to those who ingest the meat. In an attempt to restrict the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy---more commonly known as mad cow disease---the FDA has restricted many types of organic material, such as organs, derived from slaughtered animals to enter into living animals' feed supply.

Animal Drugs

• Animals destined for slaughter are routinely given a number of drugs, such as antibiotics, vitamins, synthetic hormones and other supplements designed to keep the animal alive and growing. Animals often don't break down all the supplements by the time the animal is slaughtered, which means they can be passed on to consumers. For this reason, slaughterhouses must limit what, when and how much of these drugs they can give these animals. For instance, some drugs cannot be given to an animal directly before their slaughter because it won't leave the animal sufficient time to break them down.

Postmortem Adulteration of Meat

• Once an animal has been slaughtered, the resulting meat is forbidden from being significantly adulterated. In an interesting twist, the trademark purple stamps used by the USDA to tell consumers that the meat coming from a slaughtered animal had been inspected where at one time found by the FDA to contain toxic dyes. The dyes have since been replaced with natural, non-toxic dyes.

Diseased and Downer Cows

• The FDA expressly forbids so-called "downer" cows---those that are unable to walk on their own accord---from being slaughtered and served as food. The inability to walk is often a sign of disease. According to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, whose statutes fall under the FDA's jurisdiction, no diseased animal can be slaughtered, for fear of passing on that disease to consumers. However, few animals are carefully inspected for disease; a cow being a "downer" is one of the few signs that will save an animal from slaughter.

Non-slaughtered Animals

• According to the FDA, animals that are served to consumers as meat must in all cases be properly slaughtered. No meat sold as food can be killed by any other means than through USDA-approved methods of slaughtering.