I was trying to get to the bottom of my still unanswered question…why is meat so expensive in Norway? I really am just curious at this point! But alas, I have found more “meat drama” in the beautiful Norway, but this time it is concerning little pigs. And still no answer as to why it is so expensive in Norway.
The only reason I am sharing this with you, is because it is so funny to me that they are so concerned about it. So, are you ready? Here it goes!
Norway has listened to the protests of their animal welfare groups and have banned the castration of piglets - to start in the year 2009. Bente Fredriksen, co-coordinator of a $13.8 million Norwegian research project that is trying to find an alternative to piglet castration, says that the reason for the ban is simply because, “Sometimes they get depressed”. The European food and safety agency have found that piglets that have been castrated don’t spend as much time with their siblings.
But thankfully for the pigs in Norway, as of 2009, they will no longer be depressed or spend less time with their brothers and sisters. So all the pigs and pig lovers of the world can rejoice.
That is until they are still killed for their meat.
I just have to say that I personally really don’t get it. They are still raising them for their meat. Which means they still do what you do when you want meat from a pig (you know…kill it). So Norway, I have to ask; Do you really need to spend $13.8 million dollars researching alternitives to pig castration?
Now I will be the first to admit that the US government spents a whole lotta money on really stupid stuff (more on that coming soon in another post). But come on. Why exactly do you need an alternative? Oh yeah, because pigs that are castrated taste better than pigs that are not castrated. And just so I have this straight, let me be clear…. Norway is banning castration of piglets in 2009 because they don’t want the pigs to be depressed before they kill them.
Well, now that I’ve got that straightened out…..
2 responses so far ↓
1 ian in hamburg // Jan 5, 2008 at 11:25 am
Not just meat - we found all food to be expensive in Norway. The only time we were there was to go skiing at Hemsedal in 2003. Loved every minute of it, except trips to the market. We love to cook and brought much of our own food - and meat - frozen in a Coleman’s bin - but little things every day were astoundingly expensive. Not just at Hemsedal, but down in the fjord towns we visited as well.
Like your blog - you have some great ideas I’ve not seen before - like including everyone’s latest post in the comments, and this “best of” link. Nice touch.
ian in hamburg’s last blog post..Blogging into the Guinness Book of World Records
2 Eivind // Sep 7, 2008 at 10:10 am
Food and meat is expensive because foreign products are taxed so that Norwegian farmers can compete with them. The German big shot farmer with 40.000 cows can sell his meat to Norwegian stores for lets say 10 bucks a kilo, but it will be taxed so that the total prize will be 100 bucks which is the same prize a Norwegian small time farmer with 2 cows and a pig would get for his meat.
Norwegian farmers are also given governmental aid just for being farmers. It is all apart of our fear of losing everything but our oil industry to foreign countries.
Leave a Comment