Ohhhhh Yuck!

[Tigermike 3,673]

Don't say anything at all about cultural tastes. A dog is a dog. Or in this case a hot dog.

Push for more dog meat on menus

From correspondents in Korea | April 02, 2008

THE Seoul city government is seeking to classify man's best friend as livestock in order to set food safety standards for South Korean lovers of dogmeat.

Somewhere between two and four million dogs are estimated to be consumed in South Korea every year, but the slaughtering and processing is carried out in dirty environments and poses a risks to diners' health.

Since dogs are not currently classed as livestock there are no hygiene regulations on their slaughter, officials said.

"Dogs are consumed in their millions in this country every year. That's a fact. We have to take care of this situation,'' said Lee Hae-Woo, head of the city government's department of food safety.

"We plan to recommend to the central government that dogs are classified as livestock,'' he said.

"This is like a hot potato, but we don't pretend the issue does not exist.''

South Korea's capital has always been ambivalent about dogmeat. To avoid adverse publicity before the 1988 Olympics, the city banned dogmeat and snakemeat as "abhorrent food".

The order is now largely ignored and an estimated 500 dogmeat restaurants operate in Seoul alone.

The reclassification proposal sparked angry reactions from animal activists, who staged street protests and launched online signature campaigns.

"No other country in the world but South Korea gives a legal green light to dogmeat consumption,'' the Korea Association for Animal Protection said in a statement.

"South Korea's motto is globalisation but it seeks to go back to the Stone Age as far as dogmeat consumption is concerned."

Lee Won-Bok, association president, said if the proposal became reality, dogmeat consumption would increase drastically.

"It's horrible to imagine dogmeat on display next to beef and ham at supermarkets. It would also be nauseating to see roasted dogmeat on the menu of your restaurant,'' he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...7-12377,00.html

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

You know, I never understood why people get so up in arms about this type of thing. Meat is meat, especially if is from a mammal. I know people get upset at the thought of someone eating dog because they think of dogs as pets. In my time I have eaten squirrel, raccoon, snake, rabbit, chicken, pigeon, pork, and duck (I sound like the Tasmanian Devil) and I have also seen all these things kept as pets. If someone is hungry and wants to eat a dog, let'em eat a dog. We have some stupid laws about that type of thing here in the US: illegal to sell horse meat (I've heard it's tasty, and available in Canada), illegal to buy kangaroo leather in California (weird considering that Australia has an overpopulation problem), etc.

Meat is meat, leather is leather, as long as it isn't human, why does it matter?

[DCWarEagle 0]

The idea of eating a dog doesn't appeal to me (and I'm glad I'm reading this post at work, not at home where my poor pooch might see it and be upset), but I have to say, if the people are already eating it, why not make it legal and regulate it a bit to reduce the health hazards (and possibly also the conditions that the dogs are treated to before they are killed)?

Most people aren't skeeved out eating cows, pigs, chickens, fish, turkeys, deer, rabbits, ducks, turtles, crawfish, shrimp, bison, gators, etc. Why are dogs so different? Because we have them as pets? As AUTiger2000 pointed out, lots of the other things we eat are kept by people as pets also.

*Edit* Oh yeah, and if someone argues about the intelligence of the animal (which is a fair point to make-I would not want to eat a monkey or dolphin), I believe that many scientists consider pigs to be more intelligent than dogs.

[quietfan 233]

Other than mere custom, the only objection I can think of is that eating predators, near the top of the food chain, may pose a greater risk for parasites and greater concentrations of some toxins/chemicals that accumulate from eating animals that eat animals. I don't think that's a big threat, however.

Don't forget: In the Old Testament pork, oysters, crawfish, lobster, and catfish (all some of my favorites) are considered unclean and prohibited, along with any dish that mixes dairy with beef (..stroganoff, anyone?)!

[Ranger12 53]

I understand the point about we eat other pets, so what is the problem with dogs. However, most of those other pets you talk about are not common pets such as a dog. My fear would be that somebody may try to steal my dog for their dinner.

With that said, I have eaten dog while in Korea, although I was unknowingly doing it at the time. The sweet, or might I say tricky, old Korean lady got a real kick out of seeing our faces when we find out what it really was...especially after we had eaten a whole bowl of it. Even at that time, I had eaten things worse then dog myself, but that was because I had no choice.

[Tigermike 3,673]

Oh dang, I may as well add this one as well.

[CCTAU 3,490]

What do you call a Korean with a dog?.....A vegetarian!

What do you call a Korean with more than 2 dogs?....A rancher!