As a chef-in-training, my professional standpoint is that it is not my opinion whether or not veal is ethical–if I have a customer base that wants to eat veal, then I am missing out on business by not having veal on the menu. Considering I live in Southern California, veal is not a big menu item around here, anyways.
Do I think it’s unethical? It’s as unethical as any other mass-farm-raised creature that makes it to your dinner plate. I’m lucky that I’m in an area that free-range and organic meats are in easy supply, and I support these farms whenever possible. My only concern is these meats also cost double what your regular mass-produced meats cost.
There are certain types of veal that are kept in more humane circumstances, such as Limosine Milk Calf which is fed exclusively on the udder, and is allowed some movement, as it is kept in the pen with the mother.
Max: The calves do gain muscle tissue, as they are almost force-fed, and they do stand and move (albeit not much); the immobility keeps the muscle from becoming tough. There is plenty of meat available from a calf, even though it may seem like there might not be much.
Even though it seems like veal is a “waste”, since the animal is not able to reach reproductive maturity, there was a reasoning behind how veal made it to the dinner table. Let me use Italy as an example. Northern Italy is full of grazing land, and has a reputation for its cheeses and dairy-based items–here, female cows that produce milk are more important than males, except for a few needed for reproductive purposes. First of all, Northern Italy has the grazing land available to support a great deal of female cows that are producing milk. Second, a female cow needs to have calved to be able to produce milk. What would happen, is the farmer would keep the female calves–these were his money makers, as they will give him the milk he sells. The male calves? He would perhaps keep one or two, but the rest would go towards food–some to mature, and some going to veal. Nothing goes to waste. In Southern Italy, the same thought process was there, but the area lacked the grazing land, and would be unable to support a large herd of cows–the steers were used more as beasts of burden. In this case, the females were the ones to go to slaughter.
Veal is a very tender, light-colored meat, and is low in fat–since it is not able to develop fully, it also does not gain the fat marbling mature beef has. If your veal is red or grey–it’s been fed with reconstituted milk or hormones–or your market is trying to rip you off by selling you young beef and marking it as veal.