Facts
Animals raised in feedlots are kept in overcrowded conditions that facilitate the the spread of diseases, so they are fed large amounts of antibiotics. - The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that over 70 percent of antibiotics used in the US are Fed to livestock in factory farms.
- The overuse of antibiotics provides an ideal environment for the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as MRSA.
- Along with antibiotics and other drugs and chemicals, livestock are fed many things that are not their natural food. This includes excessive amounts of grain, plastic, dead animal parts (including from their own species), and manure and anything it picks up. (http://www.naturalnews.com/022101.html)
- Globally about 50 percent of pork and 70 percent of chicken comes from factory farms. (http://www.ciwf.org)
- 33 percent of global crops are fed to farm animals. and the production of the nitrogen fertilizer used in growing these crops produces an estimated 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. (CIWF)
- Farming accounts for 9% of global CO2 emissions, 37% of global methane emissions, 64% of global ammonia emissions, and 65% of global nitrous oxide emissions. (CIWF)
- The livestock sector is responsible for more water pollution than any other single sector. (CIWF)
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A single feedlot usually has up to 100,000 cattle (Schlosser)
- 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 (Schlosser)
- 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 (Schlosser)
- All hamburger used by McDonald’s in the US comes from just 5 ground-beef suppliers (Schlosser)
- The top four meatpacking firms in the US have control of over 85% of the market (Schlosser)
- 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 (Schlosser)
- These huge companies have close ties to those creating food-safety policies and have more control over these policies than the American voters (Schlosser)
- Almost all ground beef in the US has some level of Salmonella (Schlosser)
- The USDA does not have the power to instate a mandatory recall of contaminated meat (Schlosser)
photo curtesy of www.foodandwaterwatch.org
