What exactly is veal? Veal is the meat of a baby cow, a calf that has been starved to death in order to ensure that its meat is pale pink or white in colour. The veal calf industry is among the worst and brutal of all kinds of intensive animal agriculture.
As male calves are of no use to the dairy industry, they are used as the source of the veal. Within mere moments of their birth, the male calves are snatched from their mothers, and are loaded onto trucks and sent to auctions. At these auctions, these fragile animals are shocked and kicked and when they can no longer walk, they are dragged by their legs or by their ears. Bewildered and terrified, barely able to stand up and their umbilical cords still attached, the calves are sold, in order to be "made into veal", a process that may take up to four months or less.
They are then chained around the neck inside tiny, wooden crates, barely larger than their bodies, measuring just two feet wide and are kept in complete darkness. These crates are designed in order to restrict all movement, therefore making it impossible for them to turn around, walk, stretch or even lie down properly. It is even too small for the calves to take one step forwards or backwards. The purpose behind this severe confinement is to atrophy the calves" muscles thus producing tender "gourmet" veal. Scientific research indicates that calves confined in "veal crates" exhibit odd coping behaviours associated with frustration. These include head tossing, head shaking, kicking, scratching, tongue rolling and an abnormal chewing activity. This "veal crate" will be the home that they will never leave, for the rest of their brief, but doomed lives.
The calves are fed a high fat liquid feed also known as a "milk replacer", which is intentionally lacking in iron, fibre and other essential nutrients. This causes the calves to become anaemic and therefore results in their flesh turning pale pink or white in colour.
