preview

What 's The Matter With Meat?

Better Essays
Open Document
What’s the matter with Meat?
The demand for meat in America is on the rise while the number of family owned farms is declining. The farming industry has had to change century old practices like free-range grazing to keep up with the mass amounts of meat that Americans and other cultures have become accustomed to. A process known as factory farming is controlling the farming industry worldwide. Factory farming is an unnatural and inhuman way to raise mass amounts of livestock. Unfortunately to keep up with demand, small farmers around the world are struggling to survive and are being pressured to work for large corporations raising animals using theses factory farming strategies rather than the natural alternative. As described by Wenonah…show more content…
Tyson hides behind its officiate brands with names like Hillshire Farms to paint a picture that their animals are raised on grass fields in ruale America, but this is a tactic that is used often to confuse the buyer. Christopher Leonard, a former national business reporter for the Associated Press states in his new book about the meat industry called The Meat Racket “’Even if Tyson did not produce a given piece of meat, the consumer is really only picking between different versions of the same commoditized beef, chicken, and pork that is produced through a system Tyson pioneered’”(Kristof, 1). This causes the American consumer to lose the power to make healthy decisions for themselves and their families in the super market.
American rural farmers are being forced to sign contracts with large companies so that they can continue to support their families. The farmers who make the decision to raise livestock for brands like Tyson do not even own the animals they raise. An example of how large-scale companies are taking over American farms is the chicken industry. According to Tyson the most cost effective way to raise broiler chickens is in large dark warehouse like fixtures, called grower houses, easily packed with 20,000 chickens or more. Inside these grower houses animals are forced to live in their own feces, which has traces of
Get Access
Related
Get Access