Final Food Paper (Final Draft)

All over America people are consuming food that has been mass-produced in major factories, without even being aware of the past behind their food. We take advantage of the food we eat, without stopping to consider where our food has come from. Little do we know, but most of the meat we eat is meat that came from animals that have been treated cruelly. Industries and major companies have changed the way we as Americans eat, and are pushing little farms out of business and bringing animal-abusing, mass-produced factories into our society that harm nature and the animals we live with.

In our culture, we as Americans eat a lot of industrialized food. This food is mass-produced in factories that are harmful to the animals we eat. According to The Meatrix, companies have taken over small family farms that grow their food in a healthy organic environment. When surrounded by huge companies that can produce a lot more products than small farms can, these small farms cannot survive for much longer. They are forced to shut down, therefore giving way to the harmful factories. These harmful factories infect their animals with growth hormones and other chemicals that are suppose to make these animals grow big so they can produce a lot of meat when killed. According to http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp, Chickens are fed harmful steroid-like chemicals that increase their growth at such a rapid pace that their poor chicken legs are not able to sustain the weight of their body, therefore killing them in the process. Cows and pigs are also fed harmful chemicals in the hopes of fattening them up before they are sent to the slaughterhouse. These chemicals that are in the animals bodies not only hurt them, but they are also hurting us in the process. Also according to The Meatrix, animals that are no longer healthy or dead are then used to feed other animals. For example, if a cow were not to survive, the workers would take the blood of that cow and feed it to a living cow, passing along many diseases and increasing the chance of mad cow disease in that cow. After humans eat these cows, they can also become infected. Along with fattening up their animals, large factories also take the sperm of their male animals and perform artificial insemination on their female animals. According to a video we watched in class,"Our Daily Bread", workers will bring a male cow to a female cow and get it “horny”. Once the male cow is ready to “hump” the female cow, and tries to make a move, the workers will grab the male cow and stick a tube in their body, which captures their sperm. After denying the male cow of their “pleasure”, the workers take the male cow away and back into their stalls. The reason they take the sperm is so that they can stick it into a bunch of female cows, and they will then produce babies, which workers can grow into food for us humans. Corporate factories don’t care that they are harming their animals and the people who eat these animals, they just are thinking about making money. Corporate companies and factories keep this information from us Americans because they want us to buy into the whole fast food nation of ours. If we were to know how these companies treated their animals, people would surely stop eating it. By keeping this information a secret, the companies are protecting their name and also generating profit from it. This also shows us that companies try to industrialize our food at any chance they get, and our crops are no longer being grown the natural way.

Along with abusing animals, these factories are also abusing nature. In one of the videos that we watched in class, VROOM - Farming for Kids, there was a scene that showed a huge field of crops that were getting harvested. After showing this scene, a huge truck spraying pesticides and other harmful-chemicals was shown, littering these crops with chemicals that can damage the way they are grown. In another video we watched in class, "Our Daily Bread", there was a scene another large field of plants. This time it was a field of dandelions that were blooming. Along came a huge truck, spraying chemicals onto the dandelions. The next scene that followed showed the dandelions were all dead, and a truck was going through the fields chopping all the dandelions down. This was because the farmers of these huge factories just wanted the seeds of the dandelions, and not the dandelions themselves. As you can see from these two examples, huge companies don’t care about nature, they just care about the profit they are making.

I was watching a music video by Dana White, called “Cows with Guns” (http://www.cowswithguns.com/cgi-bin/listen_animation.cgi). This music video is about how one cow tried to break away from the factory it was currently residing it, and tried to warn his cow friends who also were trapped in the factory that they were about to be sent to their death. He told them about how the workers in the family were just keeping them around in order to kill them, and turn them into beef patties. The workers found out what the cow was doing, and tried to capture him, because they did not want him to go around telling other cows the truth about what would happen to them. They were afraid he would tell too much, so they tried to kill him. While watching the workers in the video capture the cow, I realized that major companies also do this to us Americans. They don’t tell us what they do to their animals, because they don’t want us to know how they treat their animals. They try and bury any information about mistreatment of their animals. These companies keep us in our blissfully ignorant bubble that we live in, while also robbing us of our money as we spend our salaries buying mass-produced food in the supermarket and fast-food stations. Towards the end of the video, all the rebelling cows were captured by cops and it shows people that are relieved because they will get food on their plate. This made me think of how even if people know about the mistreatment of animals, they decide not to do anything about it. Although this may be for many reasons, one of the major reasons is that even though these animals are mistreated, the end product tastes delicious. To some, taste buds rule over principle.

Personally, from knowing this information, I am very turned off; however this does not mean I will turn into a full-blown vegetarian. One of the things I could do without giving up meat is researching which major companies treat their animals cruelly. I know for a fact that KFC mistreats their animals and feeds them steroid like chemicals, which is a huge turn-off to me as a consumer. By knowing this fact, I know not to ever eat at a KFC (not that I have in a really long time anyway). Not all animals are mistreated however. When buying meat from a local-grown farm, you can be sure that they did not mistreat their animals in the way that major companies do. Although the meat might cost a little more, it is also healthier in the long run for our bodies. No one is saying that you must be a vegetarian and can no longer eat meat, but next time you are eating meat, be aware of where the meat came from. It is disgusting to think about, and people would rather not, but being healthy is important, and not buying into mass-produced animal cruelty is also important.

People need to open their eyes to the food we eat. I am not saying that you must turn into a full-blown vegetarian, or even become a vegetarian, but sometimes being blissfully ignorant is not the way to go. We need to realize that the food we eat could come from factories that treat their animals in a cruel demeanor. Stop eating KFC, and other places that treat their animals badly. Eat humane meat if you can, such as Kosher or Halal meat. Kosher and Halal meat is more humane because of the way they treat and slaughter their animals. They give their animals space to run around, and be free. The animals are able to live their lives freely, rather then being stuck in a cage for their entire lives. Once they decide to slaughter their animals, they don't kill them in the way that major factories do. When it comes to Kosher meat, the Jews will try and stop their animals from feeling pain by giving their neck a single slice from a blade, then let them hang upside down to let the blood drip out in order for the animals to be pure. All though this may sound gross, it is actually better because this ensures that no harmful chemicals are in the bodies of these dead animals, instead they are pure. When it comes to Halal food, the Muslims also let their animals live a free life. Once it is time for them to slaughter their animals, they do not let their animals see the blade of the knife, rather slicing their neck from behind because the believe animals have feelings also. The Jews and Muslims know something about how to treat their animals correctly, thus resulting in their food to be more humane. I am hoping that this paper has opened your eyes to the world around you, and now you can see how sneaky companies are. Once again, to reiterate myself, Industries and major companies have changed the way we as Americans eat, and are pushing little farms out of business and bringing animal-abusing, mass-produced factories into our society that harm nature and the animals around us.