Eating Animals

by Jonathan Safran Foer

  “ballooned with 10 to 30 percent . . . ” Ibid.

  You will have to continuously find . . . Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers’ Rights in US Meat and Poultry Plants (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2004), 108, footnote 298.

  Illegal aliens are often preferred . . . Ibid., 78–101.

  132 typical working conditions . . . Ibid., 2.

  Approximately 30 percent . . . T. G. Knowles. “Handling and Transport of Spent Hens,” World’s Poultry Science Journal 50 (1994): 60–61.

  133 This most likely paralyzes . . . There is some debate about whether the birds are insensible or conscious after being immobilized. At the very least, a large percentage are immobilized but conscious. For a careful and cautious review of the peer review literature, see: S. Shields and M. Raj, “An HSUS Report: The Welfare of Birds at Slaughter,” October 3, 2008, http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/research/welfare/welfare_of_birds_at_slaughter.html#038 (accessed August 16, 2009).

  about one-tenth the level necessary . . . Gail A. Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006), 166. Also see: E. W. Craig and D. L. Fletchere, “Processing and Products: A Comparison of High Current and Low Voltage Electrical Stunning Systems on Broiler Breast Rigor Development and Meat Quality,” Poultry Science 76, no. 8 (1997): 1178–1179, http://poultsci.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/76/8/1178 (accessed August 16, 2009).

  When asked if these numbers . . . Daniel Zwerdling, “A View to a Kill,” Gourmet, June 2007, 96, http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2005/ 2007/06/aviewtoakill (accessed June 26, 2009).

  133 Government estimates obtained . . . The Freedom of Information Act request indicates that three million chickens were scalded alive in 1993, when only seven billion birds were slaughtered. Adjusting for the fact that today nine billion birds are slaughtered, we can assume that at least 3.85 million birds are scalded alive today. Freedom of Information Act #94-363, Poultry Slaughtered, Condemned, and Cadavers, 6/30/94, cited in “Poultry Slaughter: The Need for Legislation,” United Poultry Concerns, www.upc-online.org/slaughter/slaughter3web.pdf (accessed August 12, 2009).

  the birds leave filled with pathogens . . . K. A. Liljebjelke and others, “Scald tank water and foam as sources of salmonella contamination for poultry carcasses during early processing,” Poultry Science Association Meeting, 2009, http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/public ations.htm?SEQ_NO_115=238456 (accessed July 11, 2009). For further discussion, see Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse, 166.

  134 Once a dangerous contaminant . . . Caroline Smith DeWaal, “Playing Chicken: The Human Cost of Inadequate Regulation of the Poultry Industry,” Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 1996, http://www.cspinet.org/reports/polt.html (accessed July 11, 2009).

  As a result, inspectors condemn half . . . Ibid.

  The inspector has approximately . . . Moira Herbst, “Beefs About Poultry Inspections: The USDA wants to change how it inspects poultry, focusing on microbial testing. Critics say the move could pose serious public health risks,” Business Week, February 6, 2008, http://www.busi nessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db2008025_760284 .html (accessed July 11, 2009); Report to Congressional Requesters, “Food Safety — Risk-Based Inspections and Microbial Monitoring Needed for Meat and Poultry,” Meat and Poultry Inspection, May 1994, http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/library/gao_rpts/rc94110.txt (accessed July 11, 2009).

  “Every week,” he reports . . . Scott Bronstein, “A Journal-Constitution Special Report — Chicken: How Safe? First of Two Parts,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 26, 1991.

  thousands of birds are communally . . . R. Behar and M. Kramer, “Something Smells Foul,” Time, October 17, 1994, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981629-3,00.html (accessed July 6, 2009).

  135 “water in these tanks . . . ” Smith De Waal, “Playing Chicken.” Also see: Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse, 168.

  99 percent of US poultry producers . . . Russell and others, “Zero tolerance for salmonella raises questions.”

  placing the chicken carcasses . . . Behar and Kramer, “Something Smells Foul.”

  But that would also eliminate . . . Ibid.

  8 percent limit . . . Ibid.

  Consumers sued over the practice . . . “USDA Rule on Retained Water in Meat and Poultry,” Food Safety and Inspection Service, April 2001, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/background/waterretention.htm. See also: Behar and Kramer, “Something Smells Foul.”

  “arbitrary and capricious” . . . “Retained Water in Raw Meat and Poultry Products; Poultry Chilling Requirements,” Federal Register 66 no. 6 (January 9, 2001), http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/97-054F.html (accessed July 21, 2009).

  the USDA’s interpretation . . . Ibid.

  the new law . . . L. L. Young and D. P. Smith, “Moisture retention by water- and air-chilled chicken broilers during processing and cutup operations,” Poultry Science 83, no. 1 (2004): 119–122, http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/83/l/119 (accessed July 21, 2009); “Water in Meat and Poultry,” Food Safety and Inspection Service, August 6, 2007, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Water_in_Meats/index.asp (accessed July 21, 2009); “Title 9 — Animals and Animal Products,” U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1, 2003, http://frweb gate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=9&PART=424& SECTION=21&TYPE=TEXT&YEAR=2003 (accessed July 21, 2009).

  136 gift massive poultry producers . . . Behar and Kramer, “Something Smells Foul.”

  Today six billion chickens . . . These estimates are based on the number of chickens slaughtered for meat annually according to the most recent FAO statistics, available at http://faostat.fao.org/site/569/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=569#ancor.

  137 Americans eat 150 times . . . W. Boyd and M. Watts, “Agro-Industrial Just-in-Time: The Chicken Industry and Postwar American Capitalism,” in Globalising Food: Agrarian Questions and Global Restructuring, edited by D. Goodman and M. Watts (London: Routledge, 1997), 192–193.

  137 The statisticians who generate . . . Agricultural Statistics Board, “Poultry slaughter: 2008 annual summary,” Table: Poultry Slaughtered: Number, Live Weight, and Average Live Weight by Type, United States, 2008 and 2007 Total (continued), 2, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, February 2009, http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/PoulSlauSu/PoulSlauSu-02-25-2009.pdf (accessed July 9, 2009).

  Much like the virus it names… Douglas Harper, Online Etymological Dictionary, November 2001, http://www.etymonline.com/index .php?search=influenzA&searchmode=none (accessed September 9, 2009); Oxford English Dictionary entry for “influenza.”

  138 what about the 500 million pigs . . . According to the FAO, an estimated half of the world’s 1.2 billion pigs (statistics available at http://faostat.fao.org/site/569/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=569#ancor) are intensively confined. FAO, “Livestock Policy Brief 01: Responding to the ‘Livestock Revolution,’ ” ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0260e/a0260e00.pdf (accessed July 28, 2009).

  zoonotic . . . A zoonotic disease is defined as “any disease and/or infection which is naturally ‘transmissible from vertebrate animals to man,’ ” according to Pan American Health Organisation, Zoonoses and Communicable Diseases Common to Man and Animals, as quoted in “Zoonoses and Veterinary Public Health (VPH),” World Health Organization, http://www.who.int/zoonoses/en/ (accessed July 8, 2009).

  where we do know the origin . . . Buzby and others, “Bacterial Foodborne Disease,” 3.

  139 poultry is by far the largest cause . . . Gardiner Harris, “Poultry Is No. 1 Source of Outbreaks, Report Says,” New York Times, June 11, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/health/research/12cdc.html (accessed July 21, 2009).

  83 percent of all chicken meat . . . “Dirty Birds: Even Premium Chickens Harbor Dangerous Bacteria,” 21.

  the 76 million cases . . . “Preliminary Foodnet Data on the Incidence of Foodborne Illnesses — Selected Sites, United States, 2001,
” Centers for Disease Control, MMWR 51, no. 15 (April 19, 2002): 325–329, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5115a3.htm (accessed August 16, 2009).

  140 In the United States, about 3 million pounds . . . The industry figure comes from the Animal Health Institute, described by the New York Times as “a trade group in Washington that represents 31 makers of veterinary drugs.” Denise Grady, “Scientists See Higher Use of Antibiotics on Farms,” New York Times, January 8, 2001, http://www .nytimes.com/2001/01/08/us/scientists-see-higher-use-of-antibiotics -on-farms.html (accessed July 6, 2009).

  industry underreported its antibiotic use . . . “Hogging It! Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock,” Union of Concerned Scientists, April 7, 2004, http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_industrial_agriculture/hogging-it-estimates-of .html (accessed July 21, 2009).

  fully 13.5 million pounds . . . Ibid.

  the percentage of bacteria resistant . . . Marian Burros, “Poultry Industry Quietly Cuts Back on Antibiotic Use,” New York Times, February 10, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/10/national/10CHIC.html (accessed July 6, 2009).

  eightfold increase in antimicrobial resistance . . . K. Smith and others, “Quinolone-Resistant Campylobacter jejuni Infections in Minnesota, 1992–1998,” New England Journal of Medicine 340, no. 20 (1999): 1525, http://content.nejm.org/content/vol340/issue20/index.dtl (accessed July 10, 2009).

  As far back as the late 1960s . . . Humane Society of the United States, “An HSUS Report: Human Health Implications of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use in Animal Agriculture,” Farm Animal Welfare http://www.hsus.org/web-files/PDF/farm/HSUS-Human-Health- Report-on-Antibiotics-in-Animal-Agriculture.pdf (accessed September 14, 2009).

  American Medical Association . . . “Low-Level Use of Antibiotics in Livestock and Poultry,” FMI Backgrounder, Food Marketing Institute, http://www.fmi.org/docs/media/bg/antibiotics.pdf (accessed August 5, 2009).

  141 Centers for Disease Control . . . “An HSUS Report: Human Health Implications of Non-Therapeutic Antibiotic Use in Animal Agriculture.” Also see this article for an early interpretation of CDC data: “Infections in the United States,” New England Journal of Medicine 338 (1998): 1333–1338, http://www.cdc.gov/enterics/publications/135-k_glynnMDR_salmoNEJM1998.pdf.

  141 Institute of Medicine . . . A. D. Anderson and others, “Public Health Consequences of Use of Antimicrobial Agents in Food Animals in the United States,” Microbial Drug Resistance 9, no. 4 (2003), http://www .cdc.gov/enterics/publications/2_a_anderson_2003.pdf.

  World Health Organization . . . Ibid.

  remarkable 2004 conference . . . Report of the WHO, FAO, OIE Joint Consultation on Emerging Zoonotic Diseases: In collaboration with the Health Council of the Neatherlands, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Organization for Animal Health, Geneva, Switzerland, May 3–5, 2004, whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/WHO_CDS_CPE_ZFK_2004.9.pdf (accessed August 16, 2009).

  The scientists distinguished . . . Ibid.

  142 This demand for animal products . . . Ibid.

  “the rapid selection and amplification . . .” “Global Risks of Infectious Animal Diseases,” Issue Paper, Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), no. 28, 2005, 6, http://www.cast-science.org/publicationDetails.asp?idProduct=69 (accessed July 9, 2009).

  Breeding genetically uniform . . . Michael Greger, Bird Flu (Herndon, VA: Lantern Books, 2006), 183–213.

  The “cost of increased efficiency” . . . “Global Risks of Infectious Animal Diseases,” 6.

  trace six of the eight . . . V. Trifonov and others, “The origin of the recent swine influenza A(H1N1) virus infecting humans,” Eurosurveillance 14, no. 17 (2009), http://www.eurosurveillance.org/images/dynamic/EE/V14N17/art19193.pdf (accessed July 16, 2009). Also see: Debora MacKenzie, “Swine Flu: The Predictable Pandemic?” New Scientist, 2706 (April 29, 2009), http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227063.800-swine-flu-the-predictable-pandemic.html?full=true (accessed July 10, 2009).

  143 heart disease, number one . . . “Leading Causes of Death,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/ lcod.htm (accessed August 16, 2009).

  143 In 1917 . . . “ADA: Who We Are, What We Do,” American Dietetic Association, 2009, http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_404_ENU_HTML.htm (accessed July 6, 2009).

  144 Well-planned vegetarian diets . . . “Vegetarian Diets,” American Dietetic Association 109, no. 7 (July 2009): 1266–1282, http://eatright.org/ cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm (accessed August 16, 2009).

  Vegetarian diets tend to be lower . . . Ibid.

  vegetarians and vegans (including athletes) . . . Ibid.

  excess animal protein intake is linked . . . “The Protein Myth,” Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/protein_myth.html (accessed July 16, 2009). And from a sports nutrition expert: “Excess protein should be avoided because it can be detrimental to normal physiologic functioning and, therefore, health. . . . Likewise excess breakdown and thus excretion of protein have been shown to increase urinary calcium loss. Females who are already prone to bone disease (that is, osteoporosis) due to low bone density could be compromising their bone health by consuming a diet too high in protein. Certain high-protein diets may also put one at increased risk for coronary artery disease. . . . Finally, excess protein intake is generally associated with possible kidney malfunction.” J. R. Berning and S. N. Steen, Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, 2nd ed. (Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett, 2005), 55.

  Vegetarian diets are often . . . “Vegetarian Diets,” 1266–1282.

  145 heart disease [which alone accounts . . . “LCWK9. Deaths, percent of total deaths, and death rates for the 15 leading causes of death: United States and each state, 2006,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/LCWK9_2006.pdf (accessed August 16, 2009).

  cancers account for nearly . . . Ibid.

  “drive increased sales . . . ” “About Us,” Dairy Management Inc., 2009, http://www.dairycheckoff.com/DairyCheckoff/AboutUs/About-Us (accessed July 16, 2009); “About Us,” National Dairy Council, 2009, http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/nationaldairycouncil/aboutus (accessed July 16, 2009).

  NDC promotes dairy consumption . . . For example, the National Dairy Council (NDC) has marketed dairy extensively to African Americans, 70 percent of whom are lactose intolerant. “Support Grows for PCRM’s Challenge to Dietary Guidelines Bias,” PCRM Magazine, 1999, http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/GM99Summer/GM99Summer9 .html (accessed July 16, 2009).

  146 the largest and most important supplier . . . P. Imperato and G. Mitchell, Acceptable Risks (New York: Viking, 1985), 65; John Robbins, Diet for a New America (Tiburon, CA: HJ Kramer Publishing, 1998), 237–238.

  Founded the same year that the ADA opened . . . For the start of ADA, see: “American Dietetic Association,” National Health Information Center, February 7, 2007, http://www.healthfinder.gov/orgs/hr1846.htm (accessed July 16, 2009). For the USDA tasks, see: Marion Nestle, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 33, 34.

  Nestle has worked extensively . . . “The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health 1988,” edited by Marion Nestle, Office of the Surgeon General and United States Department of Health and Human Services Nutrition Policy Board (United States Public Health Service, 1988), http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/NN/B/C/Q/G/ (accessed July 8, 2009).

  food companies, like cigarette companies . . . Nestle, Food Politics, 361.

  They will “lobby Congress . . .” Ibid., xiii.

  147 in parts of the world where milk . . . Marion Nestle, What to Eat (New York: North Point Press, 2007), 73.

  The highest rates of osteoporosis . . . Ibid., 74.

  USDA currently has an informal policy . . . “Pressures from food companies have led government officials and nutrition
professionals to produce dietary guidelines that disguise ‘eat less’ messages with euphemisms. Their true meaning can be detected only through careful reading, interpretation, and analysis.” Nestle, Food Politics, 67.

  half a billion of our tax dollars . . . Erik Marcus, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money (Cupertino, CA: Brio Press, 2005), 100.

  a modest $161 million . . . Ibid.

  148 India’s and China’s poultry industries . . . Economic Research Service, USDA, “Recent Trends in Poultry Supply and Demand,” in India’s Poultry Sector: Development and Prospects/WRS-04-03, http://www.ers .usda.gov/publications/WRS0403/WRS0403c.pdf (accessed August 12, 2009).

  148 twenty-seven to twenty-eight birds annually . . . Calculation based on USDA, U.S. Census Bureau, and FAO statistics. Thanks to Noam Mohr for help with this.

  Slices of Paradise / Pieces of Shit

  Page

  149 Nearly one-third . . . See page 32.

  155 “The way the plants are physically laid out . . .” Gail A. Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006), 189.

  “We aren’t in a position to see . . .” Ibid., 196.

  “about 80 percent . . .” By the standards the industry endorses through the American Meat Institute, 80 percent is considered a poor rate of success in rendering animals unconscious on the first try. Mario offered this number off the cuff, though, and did not explain how he was figuring it. It is quite possible that if his success rate were measured using, for example, the standard procedures developed by Temple Grandin, it would be much higher.

  156 Pigs exist in the wild . . . L. R. Walker, Ecosystems of Disturbed Ground (New York: Elsevier Science, 1999), 442.

  taxonomists count sixteen . . . “Family Suidae; hogs and pigs,” University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2008, http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Suidae.html (accessed July 17, 2009).