Jane Velez-Mitchell is the author of 'iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life' and 'Secrets Can Be Murder: The Killer Next Door' as well as 'Addict Nation: An Intervention for America'. She hosts the Jane Velez-Mitchell show nightly on HLN at 7p ET.

It’s happened again: what I clearly see as cruelty to cows caught on tape. This time at a supplier to fast food giant In-N-Out Burger, which immediately cut ties to the slaughterhouse.

It’s just the latest investigation into America’s meat industry to uncover horrific cruelty inflicted upon helpless farm animals. After getting a job at the slaughterhouse, an undercover investigator from the animal welfare group Compassion Over Killing spent two weeks using a hidden camera to document how workers treated the cows there.

The videotape contains images so vile that many news organizations feel they can only show brief snippets. After all, who wants to witness a dairy cow enduring a slow and agonizing death, thrashing about and bleeding after being shot over and over again with a pneumatic gun that can’t seem to render her unconscious? Who wants to see an apparently still conscious cow being lifted up by one leg via a conveyor as she writhes in agony?
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It’s been eight years since former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill No. 1520 into law, prohibiting the sale and production of foie gras in the Golden State.

On Sunday, that ban from 2004 finally goes into effect.

As stated in the legislation:

“The bill would prohibit a person from force feeding a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird’s liver beyond normal size, and would prohibit a person from hiring another person to do so. The bill would also prohibit a product from being sold in the state if it is the result of force feeding a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird’s liver beyond normal size. The bill would authorize an officer to issue a citation for a violation of those provisions in an amount up to $1,000 per violation per day.”

But because of loopholes in the law, supporters of the fatty duck and goose liver say foie’ll be back.
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Jane Velez-Mitchell is the author of 'iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life' and 'Secrets Can Be Murder: The Killer Next Door' as well as 'Addict Nation: An Intervention for America'. She hosts the Jane Velez-Mitchell show nightly on HLN at 7p ET.

McDonald's says it’s phasing out pig gestation crates. When I heard that news, I almost started crying. I was so grateful because I have witnessed the horror. One look at a pig gestation crate and you will know exactly what I mean.

A breeding sow spends most of her life in a tiny cage. It’s usually about seven feet long and two feet wide. She cannot turn around. She cannot scratch herself. She must urinate and defecate where she stands. Simply put, I believe she is tortured, day in and day out.
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The message may be kind and timely, but do outrageous tactics undermine vegans' central mission?

Previously - Are kids too young to understand veganism?

When President Barack Obama signed the spending bill into law on November 18, another piece of the legislation trotted in under the radar.

The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2012, better known as the spending bill or H.R. 2112, allocated funding for several federal departments and agencies - including the U.S. Department of Agriculture - until September 2012.

And part of that bill lifted a 5-year-old ban on the slaughter of horses for meat.

In 2006, Congress "prohibited the use of federal funds to inspect horses destined for food, effectively prohibiting domestic slaughter" according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Currently, there are no horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. If that were to change, the USDA assured it would conduct the appropriate inspections to ensure humane methods of handling the animals and humane slaughter in a statement.
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

As long as Eatocracy has been around, we've talked a lot about where our food comes from and how it's grown. Some of it's pretty and shiny and heirloom(!) - some of it, not so much.

Ultimately, how you choose to process the information is up to you and we welcome all to our table - whether vegan activist or meat-loving chef - but that doesn't mean there isn't room for passionate dialogue, which we'd love to hear in the comments below.

Bruce Friedrich is a well-known animal rights activist and senior director for strategic initiatives at Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization with a mission "to end cruelty to farm animals and promote compassionate living." He was the former Vice President for Policy of PETA.

Five Things You May Not Know About Animals Raised For Food: Bruce Friedrich
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The Australian government's decision to temporarily ban live cattle exports to Indonesia has dealt a crushing blow to the beef industry, with some fearing the move could permanently damage relations with this vital market.

The ban follows the airing of gruesome footage on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's “Four Corners” program last week showing the brutal treatment of Australian cattle in Indonesia abattoirs. The video shows cattle being kicked, hit, their eyes gouged and tails broken by Indonesian abattoirs, prompting a national outcry and swift government action.

Live cattle exports will only be resumed once those safeguards are put in place, said Senator Joe Ludwig, Australia’s Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Read - Cruelty ban carves up Australian beef

The CEO of GoDaddy.com is under fire for an online video that shows him shooting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe.

Bob Parsons, founder of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based web-hosting service, posted the graphic video on his Twitter account on March 14. The footage, shot March 8, shows him hunting an elephant on a farm and posing with a shotgun beside its corpse.

Parsons said he killed the animal for the good of local farmers whose crops are often destroyed by elephants. The video shows him walking through a field of flattened sorghum plants, which he said had been crushed by roaming elephants.

"They are subsistence farmers. If their crop isn't harvested, they don't eat," Parsons said.

He called the fact that the elephant meat provided food for the people "a bonus."

Read GoDaddy.com founder criticized by PETA for elephant-hunting video