I created this video to illustrate the main issues with factory farming. These issues are the deplorable conditions in which food animals are kept in the United Stated of America. Which leads to the animals becoming ill, lowering the quality of the meat. The over-use of antibiotics in factory farms. These antibiotics are needed to keep the animals from developing even more infections, but they also spread antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, such as MRSA, which can then infect human populations. Factory farming is bad for the environment. It releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses, contributing to global warming. It also polluted local water supplies, both near the feedlots, and where the corn that goes into the animal feed is grown. Workers in slaughter houses are mistreated. Most are immigrants who are illiterate in English (and often in Spanish). They are not unionized, and the slaughter houses work to maintain a close to 100 percent turnover rate. They keep the turnover rate so high because it keeps their costs low because they don’t have to provide workers with benefits, such as medical coverage. The turnover rate means that most workers are unaccustomed to the work. In a workplace where most workers are working knives free-handed, quickly and in close quarters, this leads to injuries, which workers are encouraged to hide so the company does not have to pay for their medical care. Unpracticed workers are also more likely to make mistakes which lead to fecal matter from the hides or intestines of the animals contaminating the meat. This leads to the presence of Salmonella and Pathogenic E. Coli, which cause illness in humans.
Factory Farmed meat is bad for all involved, both in its production and in its consumption, and because of the environmental damage it causes, it is bad for those who never eat factory farmed meat. We can all do our part to help though. Everyone can choose to eat less meat or to eat organic meat from small farms, which is raised in a much better manner. and everyone can become involved in creating regulations that lesson the impact of factory farming, and work towards eradicating it altogether.
Since 1985 Meatout has been celebrated on or around March 20th. Meatout is a huge educational campaign about vegetarianism. This grassroots campaign cites the cruelty to animals in factory farming, the environmental impact of factory farming, and the health benefits of a meat-free diet as reasons for “kicking the meat habit”. They also provide educational services on how to be vegetarian by providing meat-free recipes. Meatout invites everyone to go meat-free for a day every March 20th, and encourages people to make a commitment to participate in Meatout Mondays by going meat-free every Monday. This makes Meatout unique, as other organizations insist that to make a difference you must be a full-time vegetarian.
At one point, the workers in US slaughter houses were well paid and well respected. There were unions to look after their rights, and workers had safe working conditions and good medical care. This is no longer the case.
Unions no longer exist. Workers are recruited from across national borders, meaning that most are immigrants from impoverished countries, and an estimated quarter are in this country illegally. These immigrant workers are easier for the companies to control because many are illiterate not only in English, but in Spanish also. These workers are also willing to work for a much lower wage than non-immigrant workers. The companies keep the turnover rate high, so that most workers spend only a year working at a given slaughter house so that they are not employees long enough to be given medical insurance. When they are injured they are encouraged not to report the injury. This means that the companies can report a much lower incidence of injury than there actually is. And the number of injuries is high, because the companies keep the line speed high, and workers do not have time to clean and sharpen their knives and the speed at which they are forced to work means that they are unable to maintain enough control over their knives, leading to lacerations. In 1998, at least 29.3 percent of these workers were ill or injured, a number much higher than that for any other industry.
We all know that some of our food is imported from other countries. but did you know that is includes meat? 16% of Beef sold in the Us is imported from Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, and 6% of Pork eaten in the US is imported from Canada and Denmark. (University of Arkansas, Division of Agricultural)
At first, most of us find the idea of eating meat from another country disconcerting, but these facts may make you even more weary of the meat that originated the in US:
A single feedlot usually has up to 100,000 cattle
Many slaughter houses in the US process 300-400 cattle an hour, twice the rate of anywhere else in the world. This leads to mistakes that cause contamination from fecal matter from the digestive tract or hide of the animal
The turnover rate for workers in slaughter houses is between 75 and 100 percent a year. This leads to unskilled workers who make more mistakes, which could potentially contaminate the meat
All hamburger used by McDonald’s in the US comes from just 5 ground-beef suppliers
The top four meatpacking firms in the US have control of over 85% of the market
The centralized meat processing system means that it is difficult to trace tainted meat to it’s origin, and by the time a recall has been issued (if the source is found), most of the bad meat has been consumed
These huge companies have close ties to those creating food-safety policies and have more control over these policies than the American voters
Almost all ground beef in the US has some level of Salmonella
The USDA does not have the power to instate a mandatory recall of contaminated meat
In an article published in the september 2003 edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel examine the comparative environmental impact of the average American meat-based diet and the average American lactoovovegetarian diet (lactoovovegetarians eat dairy and eggs, but no other animal-based foods). They found that the amount of feed grain used to produce the milk and eggs in the vegetarian diet was 450 kg, while the amount of feed grain used to produce the animal products contained in the meat-based diet was almost twice that (816 kg). This explains the difference in the amount of cropland used to produce the food contained in each diet. The vegetarian diet used less than 0.4 ha of cropland, while the meat-based diet used 0.5 ha of cropland. It also explains the difference in the amount of fossil fuel required to produce the food consumed in the vegetarian diet as opposed to the meat-based diet. 25 Calories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 Calorie of animal protein, while only 2.2 Calories of fossil fuel are needed to produce a Calorie of grain protein. 17 % of fossil fuel used in the US is used for food production.
50 % of the total land in the US is used for food production. And 90% of cropland loses soil at a rate 13 times that which is sustainable. It takes 500 years to replace one inch of lost soil, so farmers are using increasingly large amounts of commercial fertilizers in an attempt to replace lost nutrients. These fertilizers are created using large amounts of fossil fuel, and toxins from them are contaminating the local water and making their way into the ocean. And 85% of fresh water consumed in the US is used for agriculture.
Most Americans claim that they need to eat meat in order to get enough protein. The truth is that the meat based diet contains 112 g of protein per day and the vegetarian diet contains 89 g of protein per day, but the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is only 54 g of protein per day. So even without eating meat, most Americans are getting much more protein than they actually need.
I the past twenty years, a global water shortage has appeared. The shortage is caused by a combination of Global Warming, Population Increase, and an Increase in Water Consumption by the richest 10-15% of the global population (this includes almost every American). Currently, there is not enough fresh water in the world to keep up with demand, and the global poor are loosing out. Water systems are being privatized (sold to corporations), causing prices to go up so much that the same amount of water used by a typical family in a month before now costs as much as the family makes in a month. In other places the water is being bought to make products like soda for export, leaving very little water for the people that live in the area.
So what does the global water shortage have to do with factory farming? According to Waterfootprint.org the two are closely linked.
1 kg (2.2 lb) of factory farmed beef takes 15500 liters of water to produce and process
1 kg of chicken meat requires 3900 liters of water
1 kg cheese uses 5000 liters of water in its production
Just one egg needs 200 liters of water
It takes 2400 liters of water to make one hamburger (most of the water goes into making the beef)
1000 liters of water go into making just 1 liter of milk
1 kg of pork uses up 4800 liters of water in its production
Contrast this with just 1300 liters of water per kilogram of barley or wheat, 900 liters per kilogram of potato flakes, 185 liters per 200 gram bag of potato chips, 70 liters per apple, 40 liters per slice of wheat bread, or 1800 liters per kilogram of soybeans, and it’s apparent that meat and other animal products use much more water than any other food type. Simply by cutting back on our meat consumption, especially beef, would greatly reduce the amount of water we use, and if enough people did this, it would significantly decrease the global water shortage.
Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) was established in 1967 by Peter Roberts, a dairy farmer, because he and his wife were becoming concerned about animal welfare in the system of factory farming that was becoming more and more prevalent. The organization, which began based in their home, now has offices in Ireland, France, and Holland and representatives in seven other countries. CIWFs mission is to increase animal well being worldwide, and put a stop to factory farming. CIWF continuously campaigns against practices such as veal crates and long-distance transport of animals.
CIWF also provides many educational resources, including the Ethical Matrix. The Ethical Matrix was written for CIWF by Professor Ben Mepham of Nottingham University. This interactive program explores the ethical issues of factory farming in respect to the animals, the environment, the farmer, and the consumer.
Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. recalled 143 million pounds of ground beef last Sunday. The recall was in response to an undercover video by the Humane Society of The United States showing “downer” cows being forced to walk with a forklift. Downer cows are those that are too sick to walk. Because they carry an increased risk of disease, including mad cow disease, downer cows are baned from the food supply by the federal government. Unfortunately, this ban is not always enforced, and some downer cows do make their way into the food supply. Ground beef from this particular slaughterhouse was used to supply shool lunches, including 37 million poinds of the recalled meat.
Most people find the idea of eating an insect disconcerting, but David Gracer believes that we should be doing just that. He considers insects to be an important food source that is often overlooked. Insects are an excellent source of nutrients, and are eaten in many cultures throughout the world. They also have a much smaller environmental impact than larger animals such as pigs and cattle. So next time you’re looking for an environmentally sustainable meal, consider eating some bugs.
My name is Marissa Caryl. I am a student at Washington State University. I have created this blog as a class asignment. You can contact me at Marissa_Caryl@wsu.edu.
