Very few Americans know where their food comes from. The overwhelming majority of Americans live in urban areas far removed from the rural concentrated animal feeding operations (factory farms) where their meat, eggs, milk, and cheese come from. Most children think that the chicken drumstick they eat for dinner comes from the supermarket. They are clueless as to the manufacturing process necessary to bring that plump chicken drumstick to their plate.
Here is rural NW Ohio there are numerous factory farms. They are not hard to spot. Just look for the large, closed up barns with signs warning that no visitors are allowed. Farm owners say that the reason that no visitors are permitted is because of the danger of disease. While this is certainly true, I suspect the real reason is that they don’t want visitors to see where their meat comes from. They don’t want people to see animals kept in cramped, inhumane facilities where they are never permitted to enjoy fresh air or sunlight. I have often said, the surest way to make a person a vegetarian is to give them a tour of a factory farm.
Years ago, my three oldest sons worked at a chicken factory farm near West Unity, Ohio. The farm is now closed. The conditions in the barns were appalling, chickens stuffed so tightly into cages that they could hardly move, dead chicken lying on the floor, and the overwhelming stench of chicken shit and ammonia. This particular farm produced eggs, many of which went to McDonald’s for use in their Egg McMuffin. When it came time for the chickens to be culled, a group of Amish men would come in and haul the chickens away. It was not a pretty sight. (I think the chicken meat went to a processor for use in soup) I always felt bad for the chickens that were able to briefly break free of their crate and run away, only to be captured and put in a shipping crate.
As we drove through the Amish community of Grabill last Saturday, we saw beautiful, pastoral farms everywhere we looked. We saw numerous Amish out and about in their buggies, working their farms and gardens and hanging out laundry. The Amish are known for their pacifistic views, so surely they are kind people, right? Perhaps, but I do know that some Amish farmers raise veal calves and there is nothing nice or kind about how they are raised. Some Amish veal producers use factory farm methods to raise veal calves. Here is a description of how veal calves are treated:
Calves raised for veal are forced to spend their short lives in individual crates that are no more than 30 inches wide and 72 inches long.(6) These crates are designed to prohibit exercise and normal muscle growth in order to produce tender “gourmet” veal. The calves are fed a milk substitute that is purposely low in iron so that they will become anemic and their flesh will stay pale.(7)
Because of these extremely unhealthy living conditions, calves raised for veal are susceptible to a long list of diseases, including chronic pneumonia and diarrhea. A study published in the Journal of Animal Science found that calves who were kept in “smaller housing units” had difficulty keeping themselves clean and had trouble “extending their front legs and changing from a lying to a standing position,” which resulted in joint swelling. It was also determined that stereotypical forms of stress behaviors, such as tongue rolling and “sham-chewing” (the act of chewing without food in the mouth), increase when smaller pens were used and as calves got older.(8)
After enduring 12 to 23 weeks in these conditions, these young animals—many of whom can barely walk because of sickness or muscle atrophy—are crowded into metal trucks for transport to the slaughterhouse.(9) On these trucks, they are trampled and suffer from temperature extremes and lack of food, water, and veterinary care.
While I do not know for certain that local Amish farmers use these exact methods, I did see similar methods used on an Amish Mennonite farm in SE Ohio.
Most of the meat sold in grocery stores comes from factory farms.(even local butcher shops often buy their meat from factory farms) Americans want cheap meat and the only way to provide them with cheap meat is produce the meat in large quantities quickly in factory farms. Once the animals are ready for slaughter, they are shipped off to factory slaughterhouses capable of slaughtering and processing thousands of animals a day. Again, let the average person tour a slaughterhouse and see where their meat comes from and how it is processed and it is likely they will never eat another piece a meat.
Meat contamination is a huge problem in factory slaughterhouses. From bacteria, to viruses, to fecal contamination, slaughterhouses face the daunting task of making our meat safe to eat. In the case of chicken, many slaughterhouses use chemicals to clean and sanitize the meat. Chlorine and Peracetic Acid are two such chemicals. According to new Agricultural Department regulations:
The department is now poised to allow a further increase in line speeds, boosting the maximum by about 25 percent. This change is part of new regulations that officials say would make poultry production more efficient and reduce the number of government inspectors while increasing the number of private company inspectors.
Under the proposed rules, which could be finalized as soon as this summer, the number of chemical treatments used on the birds is also likely to increase, according to agency documents and USDA inspectors who have worked in plants where line speeds have already accelerated.
To keep speeds up, the new regulations “would allow visibly contaminated poultry carcasses to remain online for treatment” — rather than being discarded or removed for off-line cleaning, as is now common practice. The proposed rules say “all carcasses” on the line would be treated with antimicrobial chemicals “whether they are contaminated or not.”
The heightened use of chemicals would follow a pattern that has already emerged in poultry plants. In a private report to the House Appropriations Committee, the USDA said that in plants that have already accelerated line speeds, workers have been exposed to larger amounts of cleaning agents. “The use of powerful antimicrobial chemicals has increased in order to decrease microbial loads on carcasses,” according to the 2010 report, recently obtained by The Washington Post.
I support strict regulations that force grocery stores to state on the meat package where the meat came from and what chemicals were used to process it. Consumers have a right to know what is in their food and whether it could harm them. Are the chemicals used to process chickens harmful? It seems they are, at least to inspectors that work in the slaughterhouses.
According to a 2013 Washington Post article:
When Jose Navarro landed a job as a federal poultry inspector in 2006, he moved his wife and newborn son to a rural town in Upstate New York near the processing plant, believing it was a steppingstone to a better life.
Five years later, Navarro was dead. The 37-year-old’s lungs had bled out.
His death triggered a federal investigation that raised questions about the health risks associated with a rise in the use of toxic, bacteria-killing chemicals in poultry plants. Agriculture Department health inspectors say processing plants are turning to the chemicals to remove contaminants that escape notice as processing line speeds have accelerated, in part to meet growing consumer demand for chicken and turkey…
…Amanda Hitt, director of the Food Integrity Campaign with the Government Accountability Project, said her group has been collecting statements for the past two years from inspectors reporting illnesses and injuries due to chemical exposure in poultry plants where slaughter line speeds have increased.
“They are mixing chemicals together in these plants, and it’s making people sick,” Hitt said. “Does it work better at killing off pathogens? Yes, but it also can send someone into respiratory arrest.”
Although federal officials say the enhanced use of chemicals can promote public health by fighting such contaminants as salmonella, government agencies have not conducted independent research into the possible side effects on consumers of using the chemicals. Instead, they review data provided by chemical manufacturers.
Nor has the USDA studied the effects of the chemicals on its inspectors or private employees. USDA officials said that research into worker safety is a job for other agencies. But no industry-wide study has been done by the government, and it does not keep a comprehensive record of illnesses possibly caused by the use of chemicals in the poultry industry.
Inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration at poultry plants show that at least five facilities had problems with chemicals the past three years, according to agency documents. The most common citations were for failing to properly label hazardous chemicals, failing to train employees on how to handle the chemicals and failing to have monitoring equipment in place that would detect when chemicals, such as ammonia, reach toxic levels in a plant.
At the poultry plant where Navarro worked, company officials rejected the notion that chemicals killed him.
During the investigation at the plant, inspectors and plant workers offered a raft of complaints. They said they suffered from irritation to their respiratory system, two reported “coughing up blood” and still others had “various skin diseases,” an OSHA report said.
The OSHA report cited chemicals as the suspected cause of the workers’ ailments….
The purpose of this post is not to make converts for the vegetarian/vegan religion. Instead, I hope that readers will remove their hands from their eyes and pay attention to where their meat comes from, how it is processed, and what health risks it might pose to them. As the world’s population continues to grow and countries like China become more affluent and demand meat to eat, the number of factory farms are sure to increase.
Concentrated animal feeding operations pose a risk to humans that few of us seem to understand. From water contamination and water table draw down, to air pollution and antibiotic resistance from drugs fed to animals, humans face increased risk. And human threat aside, if we are compassionate, thoughtful beings, do we really want animals being raised in facilities that are inhumane?
Taking these issues seriously likely means that if we are going to eat meat it will cost us more and we eat less of it. Humanely raised, antibiotic free, chemical free meat is costly to raise. Like most things that are good for us, non-factory farm meat is expensive.
One benefit of eating less meat is that fewer animals will be raised for slaughter and this will reduce animal methane emissions. (farts) According to the Federal EPA:
Methane (CH4) is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human activities. In 2012, CH4 accounted for about 9% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities…
…Domestic livestock such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels produce large amounts of CH4 as part of their normal digestive process. Also, when animals’ manure is stored or managed in lagoons or holding tanks, CH4 is produced. Because humans raise these animals for food, the emissions are considered human-related. Globally, the Agriculture sector is the primary source of CH4 emissions. For more information, see the Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks Agriculture chapter…
Reducing meat consumption would have a direct effect on greenhouse gas emissions and would help reduce the human contribution to global climate change. It is one thing we ALL can do.
Note
Interestingly, the Humane Method of Slaughter Act does not apply to chickens or turkeys.
You may remember this Sarah Plain video of a turkey being slaughtered:
Click here to view the embedded video.
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