While some people opt not to eat meat, we must accept that it is a very important part of the diet of a human being. Meat is an essential source of protein which is a very important especially for a growing child and a pregnant woman. Eating meat is morally acceptable because humans are omnivores. They have specialized teeth for chewing plant products as well as for chewing meat. Even as human canine teeth are minute, they are still canine and are made for tearing into meat. Additionally, humans need the protein from meat.
While protein can be found in legumes, they are certain vitamins that are essential to the body that can only be found in meat sources. Vitamin B12 is one of these. Going vegetarian is still a choice that any person can make but as a parent, forcing a child to become a vegetarian may not be considered morally acceptable. Children have more of a need for protein since they are still within the crucial stages of development. Not having meat in a child’s diet may result in an insufficient intake of protein and other essential nutrients such as Vitamin B12, zinc, calcium, Vitamin A and iron.
An adult can always go for a diet without meat as they have passed the crucial stages of development whereas children have yet to pass this stage. Experts have also stated that even adults should also be wary of their diets such that it should be planned so that they receive a sufficient amount of the nutrients. Vegans should have planned diets since they miss on certain key nutrients in the absence of meat in their diet. They must ensure that they have a sufficient protein intake. This is critical for pregnant and lactating women as they have increased nutritional needs. However, many still argue that killing an animal is wrong.
Intention matters when killing. However, good intent does not change the fact that a life was taken but if people did not kill animals for food, they would die of hunger since plant sources could not supply all the food needs of the entire human population. Killing is a natural law. Animals kill other animals for food. Humans are still classified as animals and we are still bound by the laws of nature, so killing animals for food is justified. If killing an animal was for some other intention aside from survival, then that act of killing is not justified. Even wild animals never kill when they are not threatened or when they are not hungry.