Expert: Tina Volpe - 4/27/2010

Question
what is the name of the chemical that is released in the brain when the animal knows they are going to be slaughtered?
Please advise.
Thanks.

Answer
Hi Debbi,

Here is the information I found on this subject:

While many consumers have been made aware of the problems with meat from animals who have been given hormones, most are not aware that hormones also enter the meat "naturally" through the bloodstreams of stressed, fearful and hurt animals. Both domestic farm animals such as cattle, pigs and poultry, and lab animals such as dogs and rats, were studied to see how fear-induced secretions affected the meat and the eater of the meat. Fear experienced during the slaughtering process resulted in elevated levels of steroid hormones, generally associated with adrenal-cortical secretions. Primary substances included adrenalin, cortisone-like secretions, and steroids which stimulate fear pheromone production. These remain in the meat and are transmitted to those who eat it. Humans have been found to be particularly susceptible to their effects.

These hormones are thought to be the cause of at least two conditions; the onset of puberty in girls at abnormally earlier ages, and 50% of impotence not attributable to other causes. Since farmers have largely stopped the administration of hormones to animals, it would be expected that the impotency effects and abnormal teenage development patterns would decrease instead of increase. Recent studies have documented a marked increase. Whether this finding causes alarm or not in the consumer is up to each individual; further ramifications must be looked at more closely.

A more alarming finding from a study in Britain found the more meat eaten by pregnant mothers, the higher the levels of stress hormone, cortisol, was found in the child. The study looked at children born in 1967-8 to mothers who were told to eat a pound of red meat a day to avoid pregnancy complications. The cause of the higher cortisol levels was not known; it is possible that the mothers who ate the most meat experienced more stress during the pregnancy. Correlations do not prove causality, but are red flags that call for more investigation.

Another study found that animals which experienced stress during and prior to a ten-hour period before slaughter, produced meat with depleted muscle glycogen stores. They also can develop high pH meat which is dark, firm and dry, has less pronounced taste and has poor keeping quality. In pigs, if the stress is experienced immediately before slaughter, muscle pH falls rapidly as anaerobic metabolism occurs and pale, soft and exudative muscle results. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has stated that animals must be stress and injury free prior to slaughter so that glycogen reserves are not depleted. The highest levels of glycogen in the muscles lead to the maximum level of lactic acid in the meat. The lactic acid retards the growth of spoilage-causing bacteria that could possibly contaminate the carcass during slaughtering and processing.

Pretty disturbing, I know, however, this info came from a very reliable source.

Tina Volpe