Some truths are just too terrible to find out. This includes what is often found in both hot dogs and gelatin. (If you are really curious, check it out here.)
Well, you can add caviar to the list of food that will make you both sick and sad when you see how it is harvested. Yes, harvested, not made.
The best caviar is sturgeon eggs. Traditionally, wild sturgeon were caught and cut open to remove their ovaries full of eggs. However, the sturgeon has been hunted to near extinction. Now, most caviar comes from farmed sturgeon.
Most sturgeon are allowed to grow for a year and they they are killed, sliced open, and their ovaries and eggs are harvested so people all over the world can enjoy their, what many call, delicious eggs. Considering female sturgeon can live to be 150 years old, a year is a very short time to live.
There is, however, a no kill option. All one has to do is massage the eggs out of the sturgeon and then let them continue on living. The sturgeon can be caught over and over again and her eggs can be harvested many times without killing her. Not only is this method more humane, it is also less expensive.
The video below shows the fatal process for harvesting caviar. Do you think it is right?
Sources:
Science Daily
Slate
Reference
NPR