What are quail meat side effects and benefits every ethical consumer must know? Here are quail meat pros and cons and how buying it will impact your health, the environment, animals and laborers.
Food is something we consume every day and if you’re like me, you do all the research you can to make sure you don’t hurt yourself, the planet, animals or others when shopping. As an ethical consumer myself, I am giving you all the info I’ve found on quail meat benefits and side effects.
You are going to learn all about quail meat benefits and side effects. This will include quail meat benefits for your health and potential risks, quail meat water footprint and quail meat carbon footprint, quail meat sustainability, if quail meat is vegan or impacts animals in other ways, and much more.
After learning if quail meat is good or bad for you, the environment, animals and human rights, you will be prepared to make the best choices you can the next time you buy food.
This post is all about quail meat benefits and side effects that every ethical consumer should know.
Must-Know Quail Meat Benefits And Side Effects
Health
Quail meat side effects may include:
- high cholesterol
- kidney stones
- sickness from eating quail that feed upon toxic plants
Quail meat benefits may include:
- anemia prevention
- strong bones
- skin health
Additionally, quail is…
- Acidic pH level once digested
- Gluten Free
- Not a common Food Allergen
Environment
Water footprint: moderate, 4,325 liters of water used to produce 1 kilogram of guinea fowl meat including quail / 518 gallons of water used to produce 1 pound of guinea fowl meat
Carbon footprint: high, 5.4 kg CO2e to produce 1 kilogram or 2.2 pounds of poultry meat, a car driving equivalent of 12.5 miles or 20 kilometers
Destruction: high, quail production is relatively destructive, solid waste (excrement/manure) runoff, contamination of air, land/soil and water, deforestation for feed crops, animal agriculture leading cause of: species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution and habitat destruction, responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction
Quail is…
Animals
Kills: quails, quails raised for meat are slaughtered around 5 weeks old
Harms: quails
Indirectly kills or harms: ecosystems and wildlife, habitat contamination (water/soil pollution)
Quail is…
- Not Vegan
- Harmful to wildlife and ecosystems
Laborers
Health and safety: hazardous, poultry processing workers have some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness in the USA, the work environment in processing plants is dirty, dangerous, at times machines that injure workers by crushing, amputating, burning and slicing them, workers use tools such as knives, hooks, scissors, and saws, injuries include cuts, stabs, infections, scars, scratches, missing fingers, swollen joints, working conditions are humid, slippery, loud, hot or below freezing resulting in respiratory problems, skin infections and falls, workers experience, irritating chemicals in poultry plants can cause health issues like chronic respiratory disorders, an average of 27 poultry workers a day suffer from work-related amputations or hospitalizations in the USA
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Living conditions: poor, workers must process thousands of animals per day, they are pressured to work as fast as possible, rest breaks and bathroom breaks are discouraged or denied, many workers must wear diapers, they experience stress, physical and emotional pain, at poultry plants line speeds are 140 birds per minute
Wages: low, in the USA poultry workers are poorly compensated and earn under $15 an hour, they are often pushed to work faster so companies can profit more
Quail…
- May involve worker exploitation, laborer issues, human rights concerns
The majority of quail meat comes from China, with over 80% produced there. The world’s top quail exporting country is New Zealand, followed by Germany, Spain, China, Austria, France, Poland, UK, Hungary and Netherlands.
quail meat is acidic. quail meat side effects include not fitting into an alkaline diet.
Is quail alkaline or acidic?
Quail is acidic.
What is the pH level of quail?
Quail has a 5.5 pH level once digested. Meat and poultry are acidic food groups.
When you eat food, it is broken down to an ash residue that can be neutral, acidic or alkaline. Minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, silver, copper and iron produce an alkaline ash; whereas sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine and iodine, which are found in meat, coffee, dairy and alcohol, leave an acid ash.
Going alkaline easier than ever with this: Acidic and Alkaline Foods List
quail meat is gluten free.
Is quail gluten free?
Yes, quail is gluten free. Quail does not contain gluten. Quail is a type of poultry meat, therefore making it a gluten free food.
While celiac disease may not be as rampant as many marketing trends lead us to believe, you may have a gluten sensitivity…
Celiac and gluten sensitivity symptoms are similar and may include:
- recurring abdominal pain
- chronic diarrhea
- constipation
- tingling
- numbness in hands and feet
- chronic fatigue
- joint pain
- unexplained infertility
- low bone density (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
There are hundreds of potential symptoms, many of which are also symptoms of other conditions.
Going gluten-free easier than ever with this: Gluten and Gluten-Free Foods List
quail meat is not a common food allergen.
Is quail a common food allergen?
No, quail is not a common food allergen. Some people may experience allergic reactions to quail but it is relatively rare by comparison.
A group of the eight major allergenic foods, AKA the Big-8, include:
- milk
- eggs
- fish
- crustacean shellfish
- tree nuts
- peanuts
- wheat
- soybeans
These foods account for about 90% of all food allergies in the United States.
Severe food allergies can be life threatening. Following ingestion of a food allergen, a person with food allergies can experience a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.
Persons may still be allergic to and have serious reactions to foods other than the eight foods identified by the law.
Be aware of common dietary restrictions and food allergens with this: The Big 8 Most Common Food Allergens List
quail meat has a moderate water footprint.
Does quail have a high or low water footprint?
Quail has a moderate water footprint compared to other foods.
What is the water footprint of quail?
It takes 4,325 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of guinea fowl meat including quail / 518 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of guinea fowl meat.
Did you know that water is a finite, non-renewable resource?
We must do what we can to conserve fresh water and a major way to reduce needless water consumption is to change the way we eat. That’s not to say we need to reduce our water intake….quite the opposite. It’s important for our health to drink lots of water and eat foods that hydrate. The kind of water conservation we’re talking about here is behind the scenes.
How much water does it take to produce an apple? A serving of rice? A steak dinner?
We need to be aware of something referred to as a “water footprint”. That is, the amount of fresh water utilized in the production or supply of goods we consume. As it turns out it takes significantly more water to yield foods that come from animals than foods that come from plants. Imagine how much water a cow needs to consume to generate a piece of beef. Not only how much water a single cow drinks, rather all the water that went into producing the crops that the cow ate.
Find out how much water your food consumes with this: Water Footprints of Foods and Ingredients List
quail meat has a high carbon footprint.
Does quail have a high or low carbon footprint?
Quail has a high carbon footprint.
What is the carbon footprint of quail?
It takes around 5.4 kg CO2e to produce 1 kilogram or 2.2 pounds of poultry meat, a car driving equivalent of 12.5 miles or 20 kilometers.
Food not only has a water footprint but also a carbon footprint, known as CO2e, which stands for carbon dioxide equivalent. Since carbon measurements are a bit more difficult to comprehend, it is common to equate CO2e to the distance which a car drives in miles or kilometers.
When calculating carbon emissions, some factors may include…
- farm equipment
- animal feed production
- hothouses (greenhouses)
- food processing
- packaging
- transport
- refrigeration
- freezing
- package waste and more
But that’s not all!
It’s best to keep the following in mind when grocery shopping:
- shopping locally reduces transportation emissions
- food without packaging reduces waste as well as the carbon footprint
- refrigerated and frozen foods increase carbon emissions
- seasonal foods reduce carbon emissions from hothouses (greenhouses)
- growing plant-based foods at home is the most environmentally sustainable method with zero carbon footprint
Find out how much carbon your food emits with this: Carbon Footprints of Foods and Ingredients List
quail meat is unsustainable. quail meat side effects include being environmentally destructive.
Overall, is quail eco friendly? Is quail sustainable?
Quail production is relatively unsustainable. Solid waste (excrement/manure) runoff, contamination of air, land/soil and water, deforestation for feed crops, animal agriculture leading cause of: species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution and habitat destruction, responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction.
A 2018 Oxford University study – which is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the damage farming does to the planet – found that ‘avoiding meat and dairy is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on Earth’ as animal farming provides just 18% of calories but takes up 83% of our farmland.
Consuming animal products and byproducts is not environmentally friendly and is one of the worst things for the Earth. Not only is meat production wasteful, it causes enormous amounts of pollution. The industry is one of the biggest causes of climate change.
A 2010 United Nations report said that a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world the worst impacts of climate change.
Read more about ‘What Makes Food Sustainable Or Unsustainable?’
quail meat is not vegan. quail meat side effects include killing animals for production.
Is quail vegan?
No, quail is not vegan. Quail is meat, the product of a type of bird, therefore making it an animal-derived food. A quail must be killed in order to produce quail meat.
Animals of factory farms and the livestock industry are suffering. They live in horrific conditions that often include confinement, physical abuse and unnatural environments…so much so that they need to receive antibiotics to keep from getting ill or spreading disease. They’re also injected with growth hormones to become fatter faster and live short lives, being slaughtered as soon as they finish growing and are killed prematurely, well before their natural lifespan.
Because we cannot see for ourselves how these animals live and what they endure does not mean it isn’t happening. The meat, poultry and dairy industries do everything they can to distance us from knowing how our food comes to be in order to keep us in the dark about what we support each time we buy animal derived products and byproducts.
Go vegan for animals!
It’s the best way to help animals and it’s not as difficult as you may think. Speak for animals with your actions, for they cannot speak at all.
Going vegan is easier than ever, at a glance with this: Vegan and Non-Vegan Foods List
quail meat has labor issues and human rights issues.
Is quail a product that has known laborer issues?
Yes, poultry processing workers have some of the highest rates of occupational injury and illness in the USA. The work environment in processing plants is dirty, dangerous, at times machines that injure workers by crushing, amputating, burning and slicing them, workers use tools such as knives, hooks, scissors, and saws, injuries include cuts, stabs, infections, scars, scratches, missing fingers, swollen joints, working conditions are humid, slippery, loud, hot or below freezing resulting in respiratory problems, skin infections and falls.
Workers experience irritating chemicals in poultry plants can cause health issues like chronic respiratory disorders, an average of 27 poultry workers a day suffer from work-related amputations or hospitalizations in the USA.
Workers must process thousands of birds per day. They are pressured to work as fast as possible. Rest breaks and bathroom breaks are discouraged or denied, many workers must wear diapers, they experience stress, physical and emotional pain. At poultry plants line speeds are 140 birds per minute.
In the USA poultry workers are poorly compensated and earn under $15 an hour, they are often pushed to work faster so companies can profit more.
Sadly, many labor concerns exist around the world in both developed and developing countries. We must be vigilant to ensure what we buy is not contributing to industries that are unfair to their valuable workers. Some known problems include workplace health and safety, child labor, gender inequality, inadequate pay, wage theft and exploitation.
Workers can even experience harassment, humiliation and violence and unfair employers often fail to provide laborers with access to shade, drinking water, restrooms and breaks. Consequently, laborers can face nausea, dizziness, heat exhaustion, dehydration and heat stroke -the leading cause of farmworker death!
Be sure to read up on this list of ‘Foods You Should Always Buy Fair Trade‘
This post was all about quail meat side effects and benefits.
Sources:
Quail, meat only, raw – FoodData Central
Working Lands for Wildlife – Bobwhite Quail | NRCS Virginia
