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The lungs come with the cow.

Delicious whole cows (with lungs) go into one doorway, on trucks. Delicious ground cow (with lungs*, I guess) comes out of another doorway on different trucks.

It's the circle of life.

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Jokes aside, lungs can be food too. Lung is a traditional part of haggis, for instance.

* But animal lungs have been illegal to sell for human consumption in the US since 1971: https://slate.com/technology/2023/02/usda-lung-meat-petition...

I'm told that fried lungs are one of the great street foods. Haven't had a chance to try them yet, since North Americans tend to only use organs for dog food and haute cuisine, nothing in between.

> North Americans tend to only use organs for dog food and haute cuisine, nothing in between.

I used to work in the same building as a pharmaceutical company that used calf lungs to create medicine for premature babies. So that's another use, at least. And boy did the loading dock where they disposed of the remnants smell bad. Especially in the summer.

When people say they "coughed up a lung", they weren't necessarily talking about one of their own.