Desmond Bellamy, PETA Australia, Byron Bay
Senator McDonald has just launched a Senate Inquiry into food labelling laws that will investigate the use of terms such as ‘meat-free mince’, ‘sausage made with plants’ and ‘vegan bacon’. Many of those who profit from the tormenting and slaughtering of gentle cows, sheep, pigs and chickens have long wanted to ban the word ‘meat’ from vegan products that, unlike animal flesh, are clean, cruelty-free and better for our health.
The Senator’s statement reads ‘forget the ethics of eating animal products, this is about protecting a highly valuable industry’. In other words, money trumps morality in her view.
PETA is a great believer in truth in advertising. We would like the meat industries to declare on their packaging that this meat came from animals who suffered agonising treatments like branding, castration, dehorning and up to 48 hours on a terrifying drive to the slaughterhouse before they met their horrifying death.
Suggesting that people do not know that clearly labelled vegan sausages, burgers and schnitzels are plant-based and cruelty-free is simply insulting the intelligence of consumers, who know that, regardless of what they’re called, vegan and clean meats are the humane and sustainable choice.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
