DAIRY cows spend most of their lives chained by the neck in narrow stalls; beef cattle are castrated and dehorned before they are eventually stunned and sliced at a main artery while still alive; chickens are confined to the tiniest cages and their beaks amputated without anesthetic; female pigs live in stalls so narrow they cannot turn around. Fortunately, most of us don't have to watch the way our food is prepared. It would only turn us off our vittles.

Canada has made the reasonable suggestion that the EU only ban the seal products of countries that fail to meet international humanitarian, scientific and environmental guidelines, but the idea was rejected. The Canadian hunt is conducted in accordance with recommendations made by the Independent Veterinarians Working Group and endorsed by the European Food Safety Authority. Canadian law also requires that seals must be killed as quickly as possible using a large-calibre hunting rifle, a club or a hakapik, methods that conform to the principles of cruelty-free hunting, according to the Canadian Veterinary Journal.