Ethics are standards of what is to be expected from each other and ourselves in specific situations, requiring social transactions. Whether eating animal source foods (ASFs) is considered justified or not is nonetheless a personal matter, depending on one's worldview, beliefs, and expectations. The ethical dimension, which cannot be isolated from
health and
sustainability, relates to the hunting, domestication, keeping, and/or killing of animals to generate food and other important products. Animal welfare is generally accepted as an ethical standard, even if not all of animal husbandry is currently meeting the criteria. Some animal right activists, however, wish to move beyond welfare; they not only argue for animal
rights, but also favor a severe reduction or, sometimes, radical
elimination of ASFs. This, however, would give rise to its own set of ethical complications.
