Sammy's essay

Samuel Bermudez

Amy Reynolds

English 113 B

April 22, 2012

Animal Cruelty in the Food Industry

                        Animals in the food industry are not treated with respect. These animals are confined in cages, pumped with chemicals, live in unsanitary conditions, and are abused by employees. In order to stop this animal cruelty we need to inform the public about what goes on behind the scenes of the fast food industry and provide some possible solutions.

In the food industry’s factory farms one can find animals confined in cages. In a video called “Farm to Fridge-The Truth behind Meat Production” there was footage of a factory farm. In that footage you can see the animals in cages that are just slightly bigger than their own bodies. The food industry will argue that having animals in cages that small is more efficient and profitable because it allows them to have more animals in one area and the animal’s lack of mobility makes them gain weigh producing more meat. Although this might be more efficient and profitable the food industry fails to realize how it affects the animal. For example pigs, in the footage of the video you can see purple bruises and deep cuts with blood running down the pigs bodies. Bruises and cuts due to the pigs body rubbing against the cage. Those open cuts can get infected which will contaminate the meat after it is slaughtered.

These animals also live in unsanitary conditions. According to Michael Pollen, author for “Omnivores Dilemma” in his visit to a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) he discovered that cattle there where knee deep in their own feces. The problem with this is that since there are so many cattle in one place crowded and knee deep in feces which makes it easy for disease to spread. If disease spreads among the population of cattle then the meat they produce can be tainted with it making it hazardous to consume. The reason why the meat may become tainted is because the cattle are pumped with hormones and other chemicals. According to idausa.org animals in the food industry are pumped with hormones and other chemicals to make them bigger and fatter. They also pump anti biotics so the animals can fight of diseases. Although in the point of view of the food industry this technique is more profitable, the animals suffer because of it. Peta.org explains that “Approximately 9 billion chickens are raised and killed for meat each year in the U.S. The industry refers to these chickens as “broilers” and raises them in huge, ammonia-filled, windowless sheds where artificial lighting is manipulated to make birds eat as often as possible?” These chickens gain so much weight that there legs break because they can’t sustain their own bodies, which leaves the chicken’s parentally immobile. But this isn’t as bad as what the employees of the food industry do to the animals.

Employees in the fast food industry frequently abuse and hit the animals. In the video “Farm to Fridge-The Truth behind Meat Production” one can see footage of the employees kicking, whipping, and hitting the animals. I found this interesting because of there is no reason why the employees have to abuse the animals in such a way. The food industry can’t argue that this is profitable or efficient, this is just wrong. PETA explains that people abuse animals for a number of reasons. But the biggest is to take out anger out on them. Which makes sense employees from the food industry may be under stress or maybe they themselves have been abused in the past. So when the employees see animals that are going to die anyways, they see it as an opportunity to blow of some steam. But just because these animals are sentenced to death doesn’t mean that one can go around beating these helpless creatures.

Meat is consumed by many households but many don’t realize that the meat they are consuming comes from animals that have been treated with cruelty. The animals in the food industry are confined in small cages where they can hardly move, they live in crowded knee deep in thee own feces, and to top it off they are abused and beaten by the employees that work for the food industry. Knowledge is power so now that I shed some light on what goes on behind the scenes of the food industry you can help stop them.