I consider two things to be unethical in the food industry:
[ul]
[li] Animals that are not permitted at least a modicum of free movement[/li][li] Animals that are not permitted to live to the age of reproduction[/li][/ul]
Veal and lamb violate both those ethical values of mine, therefore I don’t eat them. But then again, the current practices in the poultry industry are pretty despicable too. We eat eggs produced by “organic” free-range chickens, but my grocery store doesn’t seem to carry free-range chicken meat. So I don’t know what my alternatives are on that front.
On a related note, McDonald’s is levying new standards for its chicken producers, sort of. Chickens are to be allowed 72 sq. inches each, which allows all birds to sit down to sleep at the same time (if that’s progress, it just shows how inhumane standard practice is). In addition, McDonald’s has indicated the desire to phase out “debeaking”, but admits it will take some time to figure out how to make that work (today’s larger chickens are larger, which makes them aggressive and more likely to peck each other to death). So that Oven Stuffer Roaster ® you just ate had its beak ripped off so you could enjoy a really big bird.
On cooking lobsters, and the whole ethical issue of meat-eating, I am not a vegetarian. Killing other living creatures so you can eat is a natural fact of life. Vegetarians just kill vegetables because they think it’s a neutral act karma-wise, but they’re still committing murder. My attitude is that G-d and nature made me to be an omnivore, so please pass the hamburgers and salad, no apologies.
What I DO consider my ethical obligation is to do what I can (which ain’t much) to see that these animals and vegetables get to live something resembling a life without undue cruelty, and that they are dispatched as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Cattle, for instance, are killed by a stun bolt, which seems to be pretty instantaneous (good), but the whole process of coralling them for a long walk with a bunch of other terrified cows in the dark into a slaughterhouse that smells of blood (that no doubt clues the cow into what’s about to happen) seems barbaric. In my way of thinking, an ethical slaughterhouse would have a well-lit, well ventilated corral. As far as lobsters and crabs, my guess is that they can’t tolerate much heat increase, so while it may be painful, it’s probably brief before they’re unconcious (yes, I know they’re not kosher).