How We Eat

Essay by carlydippCollege, UndergraduateA, November 2014

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Ramage 1

Kara Ramage

Masciantonio

English 101

October 29, 2014

How is Your Food Produced?

Universally, 70 billion animals are raised annually for food and two out of every three animals are factory farmed ("11 Facts"). With a growing population in the United States, food companies are expanding as well. According to Natural Resource Defense Council, ten companies produce over 90 percent of the nation's poultry. These companies are practically monopolies, controlling what consumers get to eat, what they pay for groceries and what prices farmers receive for their live- stock. Although a dramatic decrease in price for meat has occurred over the past 40 years, other expenses are significantly rising; ones that are not paid for by the businesses. Animal abuse is as high as ever, employees of large companies are greatly exploited, and uninformed Americans are immensely taken advantage of by businesses using additives in foods.

Those who have visited factory farms described their sightings and experience as hell on Earth.

The way animals are treated is far worse than wickedly. Many state chickens are undoubtedly the most abused animals in factory farms and are bred to suffer. Chickens now genetically grow oversized breasts; therefore when a fully grown adult, the chicken topples forward and has trouble breathing, let alone standing. The New York Times states, "if humans grew at the same rate as modern chickens, a human by the age of two months would weigh 660 pounds"(Kristof). From this statement, one can only imagine a chicken's living standard is in a factory farm and question how these farms are raising the animals. Throughout an animal's life on a factory farm, it will be surrounded by bacteria and have an extremely high chance of getting an infection or disease. Statistics show that about 10,000 hogs produce as much...