Commonly held beliefs about veal were shattered in Toronto last evening at a tasting and education event hosted for the food service industry.
Jennifer Haley (shown here), Executive Director of the Ontario Veal (OVA) offered food service media, chefs and industry representatives a look behind the barn door as she gave an overview of Ontario’s veal industry.
Veal calves are male dairy animals that are raised for meat. There are approximately 450 veal farmers in Ontario who raise about 90,000 veal calves per year. Most of these farms are owned by family farmers who also raise other commodities such as beef, poultry or crops. An average-sized veal farm will raise about 175 – 200 calves per year.
In Ontario, veal can be either milk-fed or grain-fed. Milk-fed veal is the traditional meat most people envision when they think of veal: very light in colour, tender and mild in flavour. Milk-fed veal calves are fed a milk-based diet, and are sent to market when they weigh 450 – 500 lbs, which is usually around five months of age. Grain-fed veal, by comparison, is a bit darker and has a stronger flavour. Calves are transitioned onto a corn-based diet after about eight weeks of age and are raised to a market weight of 650 – 700 lbs which they generally reach around seven months of age.
The perception of veal as a very young animal is one of the biggest challenges the OVA is trying to overcome when talking to consumers about veal.
“Many people don’t eat veal because they think the calves are sent to market when they’re only a few weeks old, but veal is actually the second oldest animal we eat,” says Haley.
Housing is another area where consumers have accepted beliefs that aren’t true in a modern veal industry. Calves are raised in hutches – individual covered outdoor pens – for the first six weeks of their lives to protect against disease and allow farmers to carefully monitor their health and development. After about six weeks, when their immune systems become fully developed and better able to ward off disease, calves are housed in groups.
Veal, both milk-fed and grain-fed, is very lean and what Haley calls a “natural” meat, as the animals are raised without the use of hormones. Canada’s veal industry is centered around Quebec and Ontario, and most of the meat is consumed domestically. The multicultural make up of the Greater Toronto Area makes it a key veal consuming region.
Is a calf destined for veal taken away from it’s mother as soon as it is born? If it is spending it’s first six weeks of life isolated in a pen, are consumers wrong to think this is unnatural, unethical, and morally wrong?
Beef cows will nurse their calves until they are old enough to be weaned. Dairy cows do not as their milk is what we drink and what our butter, ice cream and other dairy products are made from.
As long as there is a dairy industry, there will be a veal industry. When I saw how grain fed rose veal was done in Ontario I decided to try it here in Mb. When we finished our first one I couldn’t believe how good it tasted, and it is so low in saturated fat and cholesterol,and high in nutrients, we eat it almost every day in replcement of beef. In response to those who raise questions of ethics, what is the alternative for the calves if they are not raised for veal? Which is better?
It’s not really any different from raising any animal for food, but veal does struggle with the perception issue. In fact, it’s the second oldest animal we eat when it goes to market…and the cute, cuddly little calf many people imagine is a far cry from the 700 pound animal that goes to market. In response to your question, I doubt that’s something most people even consider as most have little understanding of how milk is produced. Thanks for commenting! And good luck with your grain fed veal endeavours in Manitoba.
We are small and somewhat new to raising veal, certainly it’s different than beef, it’s mabye unnatural to take calves at a young age and raise them on a bottle, but I don’t see it as unethical. I feel a beef calf weaned off cow at about 6 months has more weaning stress than a veal calf. We don’t raise them in isolation, they are social animals, we put 2 to a pen on straw,easy to keep track of yet they have a companion. Once they are weaned off milk and onto grain we put them into larger groups outside, weather permitting. Calves very quickly become attached to you, because you take over the role of gaurdian/mother, sort of like an adoption. If we had the money, we would get a robotic milk feeder,where calves could drink at will,just like a cow. Thanks for the encouragement Lillian.
In response to Candice I can certainly see where questions arise from consumers. Animal rights groups downplay the dairy and veal industries with lies/propaganda. Some of the garbage articles I have seen on the net makes smoke billow out my ears. Unfortunately these radical groups are well funded. Much of their info. is incorrect and or they only tell part of a story. They also take an isolated incident somewhere and blow it way out of porportion. I really question how/why a group like PETA can exploit celebrities posing naked. It seems to me that the greatest con ever is grasping at straws for donations.What does pornography have anything to do with ethical treatment of animals? I came across 2 articles on the net 1 about dairy,1 about veal, of which over 80% of the content was lies, written by a peta supporter.Yet when consumers read, such articles they are often taken at face value, and this is where the misunderstandings misconceptions and confusion arises. Most urban dwellers are 3 or 4 generations removed from hands on agriculture and the city papers and t.v news generally dont run stories about agriculture. Face it “Farmer xyz, grows world record crop of oats in 2008″ is not going to make headlines. “Veal farmers have made major positive changes over last 30 years” Again no big story. Mostly the only stories/articles urban dwellers see are deliberately staged/planned or biasedly reported to turn urban dwellers towards the biased beliefs of the propagandaists. There are ocasionally isolated incidents where something gone wrong gets reported and they try to label the whole industry as bad. If consumers want to see milk,yogurt, ice-cream, infant formula, cream, butter,cheese,and other wholesome foods derived from the dairy industry,in stores; then there will be a veal industry also.I certainly see nothing wrong with the way veal is raised today.I am glad I met Jim.S a year and a half ago from Ont. he certainly opened my eyes to the veal industry of TODAY; as I too had my head stuck in the sand about veal. I personally perfer the taste, and low fat/cholesterol, and nutrition profile of veal,even the kids love it,and we eat/drink lots of dairy products.
[...] learn more about veal, you can read a post I wrote on the real deal about veal following a presentation I attended for chefs and food writers a couple of years [...]
I am surprised there is not any ‘pale’ (milk fed?) calf’s liver to be found in Toronto’s choice meat chops.
It’s the recommended meat for low iron & anemia (organic calf’s liver) and the pale variety is supposed to be delectable, just seared pink inside and served with slow cooked sautéed onions. So where the heck is it?
Still – I tried scallopini – of the two examples of veal leg scallops I’ve cooked this past week, one had this incredible delicate texture and great, subtle flavors. A great meat to not go heavy-handed with seasoning.