SafeFoodInc.org Is Not All Lies
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A meat industry website called SafeFoodInc.org purports to enlighten readers about the film Food, Inc. The website offers a section called “Myths & Facts” where it contrasts their meat industry spin with the documentary scenes. Some of their claims I agree with wholeheartedly, yet I come to a different conclusion than they do. Let’s look at the “facts” and think about them:
“The fact is that the broiler chicken industry has 1.5 billion chickens on the ground at any one time. To house them the Polyface ["humane"] way would require the use of 20 million shelters, towed by thousands of tractors, over millions of acres of land. The cost would be enormous, and so would the ‘carbon footprint’ of diesel-powered tractors and the additional land needed to support the movable shelter system.”
The conclusion: so-called “ethical meat” cannot be produced at the high rate and low cost that factory farming produces meat. The costs of “humane meat” are not just financial, either, they’re environmental too. Factory farmed meat is not acceptable because it’s so cruel, so terrible for the environment, and it spreads disease (like the Swine Flu). If you want to “eat meat responsibly” then you cannot eat meat regularly. It’s just that simple. Cut back or cut it out!
You cannot eat meat at every meal or even every day and do it ethically. You must reduce or eliminate your consumption.
More from the website:
“Americans purchase 35 billion pounds of chicken per year. To suggest that this tremendous demand could be met by small-scale farming with labor- and energy-intensive methods is simply a fantasy.”
This is true. The only way to satisfy current demands for animal products is to continue using factory farms. Regardless of where you stand on animal rights issues, meat consumption must be reduced if we’re going to move away from the highly destructive system of factory farming.
Factory farms are destroying the environment, they pose human health risks, and they are terribly cruel to animals. If you care about animals you need to reduce or eliminate your meat consumption. If you care about the environment you need to reduce or eliminate your meat consumption. If you care about human health you need to reduce or eliminate your meat consumption.
It makes sense that if you care about human health and the environment you need to reduce or eliminate your meat consumption. However, one might argue that if you truly care about animals you need to eliminate, not just reduce, your meat consumption.
Daniel´s last blog ..There’s always enough time to help the animals