*** w92 10/15 p. 30 Questions From Readers ***
RE: 1 Co10:25
“Everything that is sold in a meat market keep eating, making no inquiry on account of your conscience”?
No. Those words at 1 Corinthians 10:25 refer to meat that might have been from an animal sacrificed at an idol temple.
"It would have to be different, however, if those Christians knew that meat from strangled animals (or blood sausage) was one of the choices at local shops. They would need to exercise care in choosing what meat to buy. .... Or Christians might inquire of a reputable butcher or meat merchant. If they had no reason to believe that certain meat contained blood, they could simply buy and eat. Paul also wrote: “Let your reasonableness become known to all men.”..... That could apply to the matter of buying meat. Neither Israel’s Law nor the decree of the first-century Christian governing body indicated that God’s people had to go to great lengths in inquiring about meat, even becoming vegetarians if there was the slightest doubt about blood being in available meat."
The wt decided back in the 70's that blood used from slaughtered animals, etc was not the responsibility of Christians buying such bled meat. I have not heard of any change.
=====================================================================================
w78 6/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
"How concerned should a Christian be about blood in food products?
God said to Noah, and thus to the whole human family: “Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you. . . . Only flesh with its soul—its blood—you must not eat.” (Gen. 9:3, 4) Thus, true worshipers should want to avoid eating meat with blood left in it or other foods to which blood has been added.
This may call for a degree of care. For example, in some lands animals usually are strangled, or killed in some other way that leaves the blood in them. Where this is the local practice, Christians usually buy only from merchants, butchers or farmers who are known to sell meat from animals that have been bled properly.
However, federal regulations on the slaughtering of animals in many countries, as for example, in the United States, require that animals be properly bled. Hence, Christians in these areas have little need for concern. They may freely eat meat that is sold in markets or that which is served in restaurants. (Compare 1 Corinthians 10:25, 26, where the reference is to meat that had been offered to idols: “Everything that is sold in a meat market keep eating, making no inquiry on account of your conscience; for ‘to Jehovah belong the earth and that which fills it.’”) However, there may be a need to make inquiry about meat from animals killed locally, such as meat from “wild” animals, whether obtained from a hunter, a butcher shop or a restaurant.
But what about food products that may contain blood or some blood component, such as plasma protein?
Some governments require that producers list the ingredients on the label of processed food. Christians who have checked labels over a period of time may have noted that in their area blood is practically never used in foods. Hence, they may rightly have limited their reading of labels only to such times when there is some reason to believe that blood might have been added to an item.
However, recently the Federal Republic of Germany passed a law allowing meat companies to use, without listing it on a label, up to 2 percent (or, in some cases, 10 percent) dried blood plasma in “wieners, frankfurters and similar products including pâte and roulade . . . meatballs, meat stuffings, fricassee, ragout, meat in lard, . . .” What is the conscientious Christian to do in such cases?
He could make inquiry of the butcher or the producer. It is reported that in response to such inquiries, some producers in one Scandinavian land readily gave assurance that blood is not an ingredient in their processed meats; they do not want to lose business. But, in some places, Witnesses who inquired of butchers or meat producers were given vague or questionable replies. It may be noted that, even if the law permits companies to add some blood without stating it, this does not necessarily mean that all or even most of them do so.
Therefore, Christians, individually, must decide what to do. The consciences of some may move them to avoid anything about which they have serious questions or to make such inquiry as is needed to settle their consciences. (Rom. 14:23) In instances where it does not seem possible to get absolute information through reasonable inquiry, other Christians may conclude: ‘Where there is no substantial reason for me to think that blood is present or there is no definite way that I can determine it, I can with a clear conscience “keep eating.”’ They should, however, consider the conscientious feelings of others, even as Paul counseled.—1 Cor. 10:28-30; Rom. 14:13-21.
True Christians ought not to be indifferent about blood. They should do what they can to avoid a clear violation of God’s law. A deep respect for that law is of central importance. By doing all that they reasonably can to “keep themselves . . . from blood,” God’s people manifest appreciation for the sanctity of life and of the blood representing it.—Acts 21:25."