At one point in your life, have you ever thought to yourself how was the meat on your plate produced, and why is it so cheap? Billions of farm animals are consumed every year in the U.S. at cheap costs and endure in conditions that buyers wouldn’t acknowledge. A large portion of our meats originate from meat industries that produce, abuse, and process meat for the public from farms that abuse animals unless the animal was raised organically. The meats that are produced are a necessity for a us omnivores because we eat meat on a daily basis as a source for protein and fat, unless you are vegetarian, or vegan. Now since it’s a necessity for us living beings, is cruelty in animal agriculture worth the outcome for better for our economy? Looking through an economical viewpoint, animal abuse in the meat production is beneficial for consumers that buy meats from the market, farmers that produce the meat due to job creations, and trading with other countries. Without abusing farm animals in the process of producing meats, the economy for the meat production will be slowed down due to the delay of organically raising farm animals such as pigs, cows, chicken, etc... Furthermore, the outcome of the cruelty in animal production has certainly boosted the U.S. economy because it overall benefits the price of meat for everyone from the consumer to farmers. The outcome has benefited mainly the consumers because families are able to purchase these meats that factory farms produce.
Eric Schlosser disproves that theory with his book titled Fast Food Nation (2001). About a hundred years after the mistreatment in the Gilded Age occured Fast Food Nation describes the same if not worse conditions of industries in America. In chapter 8, Schlosser uses rhetorical strategies to unveil the dark side of meat-packing factories. Schlosser begins by explaining what happens to the animals
To conclude, the authors argument in this book is that the meat industry is extremely flawed and it needs to be reformed to allow more ranchers, to fix the meat handling to become safer, and to fix the working
Grazing and growing feed for livestock now occupy 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet. If these current events continue, meat production is predicted to double between the turn of the 21st century and 2050. Yet already, the Earth is being overpowered by livestock that consume massive quantities of energy and resources, whose wastes contaminate waterways and farmlands, and when eaten excessively, degrade our health. Pollan makes a considerable point when discussing concentrated animal feedlot operations, “The economic logic of gathering so many animals together to feed them cheap corn in CAFOs is hard to argue with; it has made meat, which used to be a special occasion in most American homes” (pg. 67, An Omnivore's Dilemma).
Are we truly cruel people if we eat meats, that came from factories? Would people stop eating their food, if they knew how they were made?The author Wendell Berry from “The Pleasures of Eating” argued that the factories where we get our food, don't treat the animal properly and are really cruel to them. He also argued that he will not eat any kind of meat that he knows for a fact that had a miserable life. Finally, Berry uses a lot of emotion in his article to get his point across , he doesn't use any kind of fact to back it up. Everything that he discuss in base on his opinion alone.
I had never really thought much about animal rights before. But after reading “Puppies, Pigs, and People” by Norcross, I now look at the way we get factory processed meat differently. People need to be more informed of where the meat they are buying and consuming is coming from.
In the United States, according to the North American Meat Institute, the average man will consume about 6.9 oz of meat in a day, while a women will consume about 4.4 oz. Meat companies in America produced 25.8 billion pounds of beef and 38.4 pounds of chicken just in 2013 alone. People walk into grocery stores and purchase meat but never think twice about the environment their food, or the workers that handle the animals, were in. Upton Sinclair exposed the industry with “The Jungle” in 1906, people were now fully aware of what was sometimes in the meat, this lead to the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Therefore, once the 1980s came along, companies relocated to rural areas and became a non-union workforce.
When people have a silent moment to think about this issue, they realize human are very evil, and selfish. Most only consider themselves. They enjoy eating their favorite meat without thinking about how much paint, how much blood they have lost, what kind of torture the animals have to deal with. The industrial company is also evil because they care more about profit than everything else. The consumer is selfish because they only think about a good meal.
If all animals that we kill for food are put in only the most ideal environments and only killed during the end of their lifespan, the prices for such food would skyrocket. “Meat would become the prerogative of the rich.” (Singer 215) The scenario that everyone becomes vegetarians or vegans is also not plausible. To meet the ever growing meat demands of the world, factory farming had to become a normal part of society even if it meant stuffing animals full of different types of hormones to satisfy everyone.
Alongside to the economic benefits that meat brings into our society, meat industries also help people from the lower class. Without meat industries, people from the lower class would eventually starve out as their easy and cheap access to food would be taken away from them. Simply eating small grains and vegetables would no longer provide the same amount of nutrients in their diet as previously mentioned in the paragraph above. It is for this reason that eating meat is ethical as taking it away would cause detrimental effects to our
A WPA report in October 2010 showed that sheep processed domestically for meat are worth 20% more to the Australian economy compared to those that are exported live. The same report showed that another benefit of transitioning to a chilled meat trade is that the utilization of abattoirs currently operating at just 59% could contribute $204 million to the economy each year and create 1300 jobs. The shift away from live animal exports is already showing great promise with the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture stating that the value of meat exports for 2014 was worth $10 billion more compared to that of live exports. A phase-out of the cruel live export trade will not only have long term benefits for the Australian economy, it will prevent further support for an industry that every major international animal welfare organisation condemns as cruel and unacceptable.
Competition in the marketplace causes animals to live miserable lives for the price of their meat. The lower the price goes, the more miserable their lives get. Animals are eaten more for the flavor than the health or increase of food supply. This causes them to be treated unhealthy just for people’s taste buds. I agree how it’s different for other people who hunt to eat animals in order to survive, but it’s different for the people in the industrialized cities.
The meat packing industry disregards animal’s emotions and their rights all together by the malicious treatment of animals. The way animals are being treated is highly unfair. Being slaughtered for their body parts and suffering just to be used for protein or an asset to humans is unbearable. An animal’s life is at equal values to a human and deserve the same rights as
Animal Cruelty Have you ever wondered how much atrocious animal treatments are occurring around the world? The average number of animal abuse cases reported in the media each year is 1,920 according to a study conducted this year by Statistic Brain Research Institute. Moreover, a lot of animals struggle around the globe because they are often beaten, neglected and hunted, which forces them to fight for survival. Helpless animals continue to be exploited by humans and are still constantly being robbed of their lives. Thus, animal cruelty is the killing, exploiting and neglecting the needs of animals that are causing extinction and nonessential suffering.
Promoting good animal welfare as part of food quality Animal welfare is very important also for us humans, for our own health, nutrition and security when eating animals. Many times you can diagnose animal welfare when studying their behavior, physiology productivity and reproductive success. Sometimes productivity is a way to know the animal’s health.
Exploitation is an act or action that is selfish and will only bring benefit to the exploiter. Animal exploitation is being practiced all over the world. Animals are being beaten and mistreated. Countless numbers of animals are dying each year because of the cold-hearted people who do not treat them right. “Of 1,880 cruelty cases reported in the media in 2007: 64.5% (1,212) involved dogs, 18% (337) involved cats, and 25% (470) involved other animals”.