A CRITICAL APPROACH TO EATING
None of this is to say that caution about offal is unfounded. Blood and organs, if improperly handled, carry real health risks, from bacterial contamination to diseases such as Hepatitis E. Singapore’s ban on animal blood products was triggered by a Nipah virus outbreak among abattoir workers in 1999.
Nor should every culinary tradition be preserved without question. Some foods, such as shark’s fin or turtle soup, are increasingly difficult to defend on environmental and animal welfare grounds, no matter how rooted they are in culture or how delectable they may be. To embrace nose-to-tail eating, then, is not to preserve tradition uncritically.
