Most of us do not think twice about the foods we pick up from the supermarket. Many Americans have a preconceived belief that the food being sold to us is safe, and withholds the highest standard of quality. Certainly, compared to many places in the world, this is true. But is the United States sincerely trying to carry out these standards, or have we begun to see a reverse in the health and safety of our food- and more explicitly in our meat? Jonathan Foer, author of “Eating Animals” argues for reform within the food industry- not only for the humane treatment of animals but moreover for our own health. Although Foer exposes the ills within the food industries in order to persuade readers to change their diets for the better, his “vegetarianism or die” assessment may be too extreme for most Americans. The true ills do not start with the meat, but with industrialized production of it through methods practiced by factory farming.
In the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author talks about, not only vegetarianism, but reveals to us what actually occurs in the factory farming system. The issue circulating in this book is whether to eat meat or not to eat meat. Foer, however, never tries to convert his reader to become vegetarians but rather to inform them with information so they can respond with better judgment. Eating meat has been a thing that majority of us engage in without question. Which is why among other reasons Foer feels compelled to share his findings about where our meat come from. Throughout the book, he gives vivid accounts of the dreadful conditions factory farmed animals endure on a daily basis. For this reason Foer urges us to take a stand against factory farming, and if we must eat meat then we must adapt humane agricultural methods for meat production.
Both Ruth L. Ozeki, the author of My Year of Meats, and Timothy Pachirat, the author of A Politics of Sight use ideas such as the concealment of producers towards consumers, and point of view to further promote political and social change. In order to promote the political and social change both of the authors use different techniques in an attempt to convince the readers of the negative consequences of the meat industry and how not monitoring it can prove to have many negative consequences.
It seems like the entire world is in more in demand for meat right now than when factory farming first started.Just in the U.S. alone ,over nine billion animals are being raised and slaughtered for human consumption every day (farm sanctuary).If that doesn't seem to shock you read this: just last year 10,509 of cattle were killed, 2,834,600 chickens were eliminated ,the number of hogs went up to 37,235 and the number of turkeys dead is 78,823 (humane society).It doesn't seem like a big deal but it in fact is: many of these animals are mistreated and live in unsanitary conditions some of which include cows ,pigs ,and chickens.
In the early parts of the 20th century “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair shed some light on the terrifying conditions being held in the meat industry. With the help of Teddy Roosevelt, Strict government laws came into play to regulate the meat packing industry.
This then brings up the issue of how our food is much worse than we had originally believed. Bryan Walsh, writer for TIME, wrote the article, The Real Cost of Cheap Food, “To stay and grow in such conditions, farm animals need pharmaceutical help, which can further damaging consequences for humans” (Walsh 34). From the chickens to the cows, animals are kept in “prison-like conditions” that causes them to become very sick (Walsh 34). To prevent animals from getting extremely sick to the point where they die before it’s their time, farmers feed them antibiotics. Not only are the animals eating corn and antibiotics, but so are we. We are eating so much more than we ever asked for. I’ve never asked to have antibiotics in my hamburger, and I’m sure many others haven’t either, however, that is the price we ought to pay for our cheap food. Not only must we ask ourselves if we are healthy, but now we must ask ourselves if what we are eating is also eating
An American writer, reformer, and an idealistic supporter of socialism, Upton Sinclair, became a famous “muckraker” in the early 1900s. Through his writing, he made it his principle goal to expose political and social evils (Daniel Mark Fogel). The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, comes across rather elementary as far as novels go; however, the way the story reads is not what was so important about the book. By writing the book, the author aimed to expose the horrendous working conditions in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s in Chicago, Illinois. As a worker himself in the meatpacking plant yards, Sinclair often witnessed illegal practices and unsafe food handling first hand (Gallagher). In addition to the poor working conditions, he attempts to shed some light on the diseased, rotten and contaminated state of the meat products that these deprived workers produced. Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle, highlights the devastating condition of the meatpacking industry’s workers, their poor health practices at the turn of the century, and by reaching the White House, this anti-capitalist and pro-socialist author’s novel changed the way our food reaches the American public forever.
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
In a review the website writes that “Slaughterhouse is the first book in which workers in the meat industry speak publicly about what is actually taking place in America’s slaughterhouses.” This particular book shined light to the graphic and very disturbing facts that factory farms are providing all types of products at the expense of the lives of innocent animals. The book is able to bring forth evidence and enticing information that is hard to miss by the reader because at one point or another, this matter was meant to come to light. The review goes further in illustrating “Eisnitz 's investigation with a single complaint from a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) worker alleging that cattle there are having their heads skinned while fully conscious. This single complaint becomes a full-scale, groundbreaking investigation.” Slowly but steadily, Eisnitz was able to figure the puzzle out and attract the attention of individuals and organizations who are particularly found of advocating for animal rights. The book itself had testimonies from workers who would deliberately beat, “strangle, boil, or dismember animals alive. Today’s slaughter line does not stop for anything: Not for injured workers, not for contaminated meat, and least of all, not for sick or disabled animals.” This is the driving force of individuals who have no other
Jonathan Safran Foer has entertained enormous significant approval and international awareness for his writing approach in novels for example Everything Is Illuminated: a Novel. The most recent book, however, is a factual and on edge. Eating Animals is a comprehensive Foer’s individual description of disagreements with the principles of eating animals subsequent to the delivery of his son. The book is sectioned into eight chapters, each one containing a title that is not completely obvious but more reminiscent and figurative. For “All or Nothing or Something Else” for the second chapter plunging into the predicament of the quantity and type of animal goods one can consume ethically. As expected, eating animals depends a great deal on the details of factory husbandry: the circumstances that the animals encounter; the cruel, proceeds-driven science and economics, which revolve existing beings into bio-widgets; the self-compelled lack of knowledge that buyers show in order that they can carry on shopping, consuming, and living devoid of disgrace. Conversely, consistent with Foer, “A straightforward case for vegetarianism is worth writing, but it’s not what I’ve written here” (13). Conversely, eating animals penetrates into an unattractive territory and it may seem like an endeavour to convert the animal-eaters.