Wow what an eye opener. I love meat and eat it with every meal but this is a very high price to pay. I used to eat fast food a lot but realized that it is not good. The fact that humans are on the top of this specific food chain is sad because that subjects to animals, like the pig mentioned, to inhumane situations. The level of ignorance has escalated.People tend to be ignorant about where their food comes from and even how these animals feel. I am not saying to stop eating meat on a whole but cutting back and avoiding these fast food places is definately a start. If every American opened his/her eyes an cuts back, this would change how these pigs are raised. The general demand would not be so high and these pigs would probably have a longer life span than 5 months. The animals might be there to be eaten but not treated and raised the way they are being now. From darkness in the cave to the light outside is definately needed!
It really is sad. When I was about 7 years old my dad scared about eating McDanolds and Burger KIng and the whole pack of FRIED FRIED FRIED. Everytime it so happens that I step feet into these places, there's a certain stenth that bothers my nose. I'm 18 years old, My diet is probably unhealthy due to the fact that I barely eat since I work full time and go to school full time, but I think its time to do something about it. The mere image of those slaughtered pigs is sickening, Like I've said before-I'm not one for animals, but its just sad to see thet they go through soo much so that we can get our 39 cent burger at McDanolds =). Sad.
To me this is a very important post. I would really like to address the question that you ended it off with though. "What do we do about it?"
I read in an article that obesity rates will soar dramatically in most parts of the world by the end of this new year. It says in 2010the number of overweight and obese people is expected to hit 26 million. Now you can ask what happened to the society over time that the obesity level soared? My opinion is that this does not have so much to do with healthy food being pricey but it has more to do with the laziness of the society today. People are not exercising or being as active as they should be. The excuse that most people come up with is the lack of time. But to me this is not really an excuse. A person can make time if they want to make time. Do we not make time to get dressed in the morning? Or to brush our teeth for that metter? It just depends on if you make your eating habits important to you.
Time can always be used or wasted. It just depends on what you actually do with it. You can either take the ten minutes to run into a Mc Donalds to buy the so called "Happy Meal" or you can take those ten minutes in the morning to make a small salad. The choice is pretty much up to each individual on what they decide to do with their time.
This is an eye-opener on many articles that I have read about the cruelty that animals go through so we can get that cheap juicy burger. I admit it I love McDonalds chicken nuggets and fries, although I avoid eating fast food meals due to maintaining good health. I ‘am always very busy and that’s when I eat junk. Most of the time I eat very little meat as less as possible and more fruits, grains, salads and yogurt. Junk food after a while for me it makes me sick to my stomach even worst hearing about where it comes from to others it makes them obese. Lately I have even started drinking soy milk to avoid the fat. We should all think about what we are intake in our bodies it is most definitely dangerous for our health in the long run. I think they should make more fast food locations with healthy food like salads, and fruits as a competition next to McDonalds with affordable prices, the likeliness of this happening is low in the meanwhile think ahead and plan a healthy snack.
Wow. To be honest, I was already aware of this...but when you don't have much money, it gets really hard to avoid eating this (speaking for self). I don't like pork all that much and this really disgusts me. The real problem is in those who demand it. The more people want, the more people will get. It's really sad. The brainwashing has been engraved in our minds too deeply, unfortunately, and many aren't even aware of it. The best that we can hope for is that those who are aware actually try something, otherwise, the pigs (and other animals) and all humans (chemicals!) are screwed. Yes, I said it, screwed.
I love meat! Especially pork. I eat meat almost everyday and sometimes I do think about what animal was sacrified to feed my stomach; some people say "OH but they are just animals they don't have feelings", yeah okay but they do feel the pain that they are being put through or the suffering of not being in there natural habitat. It completely breaks me and grosses me out when I think that I am helping this society to continue to do such horrendous things! Wow! And how horrible it is that the waste is being dumped in such a careless way. My planet earth is being polluted because of all of this... I will try my best to reduce my meat eating habits.
This meat problem is horrible, being a marine fanatic the runoff toxins is what actually bothers me the most. However there should be no excuse for the cruelty not only towards the pigs, but cows and chickens also.
As far as obesity, yes the food quality is the number one reason for obesity but there are a lot of factors out there that have also stretched out america's waist line.
And for those with money issues, there are many other places where you can get better quality food for just a dollar or two more. instead of ordering food you can turn to the "old school" way and cook simple meals or make a sandwich.
Wow, I could not believe this picture. That is outrageous. For starters I dont eat pork, ever. Sometimes I'll have a chicken sandwich from mcdonalds knowing how unhealthy it is. Its just that most americans live on a tight budget and thats the food that they can afford. Its sad but uts the truth. I also believe the obesity rate has sky rocketed because of these fast food chains.
Most of the time we eat meat without thinking about what that animal might have gone through during his/her life. I think that educating the public more about what actually happens before and even after these animals are slaughtered for their meat is of vital importance. That way more people will be able to make better food choices rather than being oblivious, now they will know the reason why they chose their meal preferences.
Even before this situation i did not eat pig, after what i just saw i will never evven think about it. in the manner that they take care of those pigs nobody should be eating it. like you said it not good for us or the environment. At this point in time because of our financial difficulties, people are looking for cheap food not healthy, so what ever can fit their budget is what they get. so what they think about first is not the money but, their health and vegetables are not as expensive as people think. So the bottom line is that people should listen to TV commercial but, worry about your health and, the environment.
By looking at these pictures I'm very saddened, but as a human being I really believe that one of us has to stand to say enough is enough.I really feel sorry for those Turtles, they can not defend themselves in against this cruel action ,where I can compare this human being as predators who were preying on the turtle eggs.I believe the best solution for that problem is for the government of Costa Rica to make it illegal to take the turtle eggs for consumption. For people who believe in a great cause in the world I want them to round up and protest against this cruelty not to extinct the turtle species.
One would never expect such dire results from eating a piece of pork. Imagine, one dead pig can kill a 1000 fish. I understand that this is something to worry about and that should be spread to many circles of people and yet, how do you expect to stop people from eating fast food? I'll tell you. Turn this country into a communist one and then nobody will eat fast food legally. Of course nobody wants this, so go and tell your friends. Next thing you know, PETA will rule the US with an iron fist.
I am totally in agreement with what I have just read. The problem is that if we keep on eating bad these company will keep on polluting our planet. I decided to stop eating McDonald when I went back to the gym but sometime the craving of a French fries or the new Mac rap let loose of my hypocritical behavior. We definitely need to start eating right and prevent our world of further damages.
After reading this article, I'm not surprised at all. I suggest you watch the movie Food Inc. Being a vegetarian, food is one of my favorite topics. I used to eat every type of meat before I moved to the states. In other countries food is much healthier and animals are actually farmed as they used to be, they treat the animals with integrity and give them their value. On the other hand, in the states most of the animals are now being feed with corn due to its low value. For example, this in cows produces ECOLI since they are supposed to be feed with grass. In USA there are only 13 slaughter houses all of them have deals with fast food industries; at the time they grind the meat they do not grind one cows' meat at a time but instead all together. What does this mean? if two cows with ecoli were grind by themselves and turned in into paties other than mixing them all up fewer paties would contain ecoli making it less risky. Further more their way of treating the animals is not appropriate, they treat them as things and not as beings. Yes, they are brain washing us but also people dont value and treat their bodies as they should. We are not supposed to eat the cheapest things but instead, real food, vegetables, fruits, non fat yogurts, and milk. Economy is managed by what we demand and if fast food is such a huge issue is because a lot of people wants it. Every time you buy something people are voting on what they want and that is what will be supplied. Make decisions, but the right ones!!!!
This will continue to be a problem until we as a nation address this issue on two fronts: legislation and education. We need to create legislations that creates and enforces specific standards. The standards we have now are vague and full of loopholes. Most importantly is education. Nutrition should be taught during K-12. We need to change the way Americans think about food and the only way to do that is to break baad habits before they are ingrained in us. We aren't made to consume huge quantities of meat. If we start eating the proper portions we will reduce demand. This reduced demand combined with the legislation we need will move us away from large CAFOs and back to regular farming. Casandra Frye
Reading this article reminded me of watching a documentary on animal cruelty where we watched how some people would slaughter dogs, cats, rats, and chickens in order to provide food for society and in many of these places they would tell people how tasteful this food will be, but the customer did not realize that what they were consuming is not what they would imagine consuming. Sometimes we find it so easy to say oh ill just pass by McDonalds and buy something for lunch or dinner because it’s closer to where I live or work. And also because it is much easier for me to buy myself something and I wouldn’t have to cook for myself or for my family. And that is where we don’t see that we are harming ourselves by eating so much junk food. Consuming so much junk food we are risking ourselves to so much sickness and unhealthy situations such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and many more. We should be able to consume foods like these and substitute them with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthy food. I’m a meat lover and my family is too, but it is time for us to avoid so much meat because it is not healthy for any of us.
Excluding fast food, I love to eat meat. However I do agree with inhumane treatment received by the animals brought up for our consumption. If I could I would raise my own animals but since i can not it is good that I am not obligated to. The industry of meat mass production as we know it should rethink its approach on the matter of how they raising animals. Unfortunately we as humans do not learn our lesson until we F**k up majorly and only now that our actions are having great environmental consequences (like the death of the fishes in the Gulf of Mexico)as well as health issues(American has the greatest amount of over weight people),are people slowly beginning to realize that something is not right with our way of handling the food industry. The treatment the animals receive is terrible undeserved, plus the hormones and antibiotics given to them can't exactly be good for either us or the animals. I don't expect these slaughter houses to give these animals five star accommodations but, at least they should treat them humanely with respect and gratitude. After all their lives are being sacrificed to sustain our own, a gift from nature that we take for grated. That does not go for just pig but every single animal that is consumed by a human. It's like a group of friend that go out to eat and just stuff their faces and when the bill arrives they argue amongst each other, struggling to pay. The only difference here is that the bill is already more than what we can afford but we are not even done. Hopefully the day eat ourselves into dept with nature never comes. What should be done along with a different approach to the food industry is for people to stop eating at places like McDanols ( either way barbecued, homemade buggers taste a million times better).
I believe that these inhumane processes "they" are taking with these inncocent animals are only being done because of us. The demand for "bad food" or sirimply food as we usually see in our day to day lives gives "the" business a surviving chance. As an economics major I hold some of the truth about "bad food" expectations in my books. The large corporations are just trying to feed the hunger(demand) we seem to have, the hunger for the cruelty of animals and worse, the hunger for clogging our own arteries as young as 5 years of age. WE are responsible for this demand for cruelty and we as a society must show them and ourselves that WE can and will survive with healthier choices of food so that these such processes of inhumane nature will be put to a stop.
After reading the article it was really shocking to read how meat being produced is affecting our environment. When I was younger I did like to eat at fast food places but once I got older I stopped. I learned before how animals were being mistreated and the horrible truth of how that meat at either McDonald's or any other fast food place was being produced. Unfortunately, we live in a country where fast food is so popular and advertised so much but I believe Americans should learn more about how bad those foods are process and how it can affect your health. Lately I have heard in the news that Burger King is also trying to make it into a restaurant type where they will server beer. This to me is just too much, and it is scary to think that more adults will be going as a meal with a beer will cost you a merely $7.99. I hope more Americans realize that is not fair on their health, the animals suffering, and our environment.
This is exactly what the public needs to see, so there can be a stop with all this manslaughter. Fast food has always been a major factor in why America is the top nation with people suffering from obesity. Knowledge of what your eating everyday should be implemented in people daily. We don't know what we are eating, we eat because it taste good, but with that comes a high price. This has been an eye opener for me.
I've become more and more interested digging up the the details of the food industry. This article helped push my interest, so on the first page, they mentioned an investigative journalist called Eric Shlosser. He's written a New York Times best-selling book called Fast Food Nation" which provides details behind the fast food industry. I've been reading it for my first time, so I thought it'd be helpful to share details behind the Times article. These are mostly direct quotes from the book:
- Fast food restaurant managers have their bonuses correlated with success at cutting labor costs - None of the workers at 15,000 McDonald's are represented by a union (McDonald's systematically fires its workers and shuts down a store if they do) - 80% of the American market for frozen french fries is owned by Simpot, Lamb Weston, and McCain - The giant processing companies do their best to drive down the prices offered to potato farmers - Since the prices are reduced so low from company to "rival" company, it's too hard for normal farmers to compete and end up being run out of business - The same concept applies for cattle raisers and chicken raisers - IBP, a meatpacking company, maintains a labor office in Mexico City and advertises their jobs for their company in America - A huge number of workers in these meat-packing companies are illegal immigrants - 75% of cattle in the U.S. were routinely fed livestock wastes (like dead sheep and cattle). They were also fed dead cats and dogs from animal shelters until the FDA banned this which became known as "mad cow disease." - Current FDA regulations allow dead pigs, horses, and poultry to be fed to cattle
Reading this article plus the Time magazine article really opened my eyes. Now I know why I'm not really a meat eating person. Though I will admit that I eat my fair share of chicken and pork from time to time and it does hurt me to know that I am part of the pain that those animals are feeling.
I am from Spain, i have been living here in Miami and learning from this new culture since a year and a half ago. And i have to say it. This is way different from Spain. In this new culture people is brainwashed as well as in Spain, however. Here in US, in food matters, brainwashing worked better than in Spain. People in the US helped by the advertisements on TV, how cheap is the fast food and the stressing lives everybody as in here has become a number one client of this kind of eating. In Spain, when you say i'm full, you mean it, you say it with a happy smile because you just ate something delicious as a gazpacho or lentejas. Here, if you have time to say something before going back to work you say " im full and feel like a fat ass" which is kind of sad. How can people say that and keep eating the same way? Right now, anything related with helping the planet, saving the turtles etc is being quickly replaced with a $1 mcburger. People is not conscious of the effects not only surrounding them but yet also their own body effects of the decisions they are making with fast food. Society isn't helping either, smart the guy that decided to establish a mcdonalds in front of Miami Dade. I would have done the same if i wanted to get lots of money out of us. But, the effects that this will cause? It's impressive how my friends from Spain think about a chicken soup from grandma when their hungry and my friends from Miami think about going to Wendy's. Wake up! it's so much nice to eat and take a nap than to stress ourselves because we want to keep eating fast and running to keep working while if your organized and take a break you will probably even live longer and happier!
I personally understand the natives of this country. First of all I dont think they have no idea that eating those turtle eggs has an effect on these endangered species. Second, they ARE living in poor country you know, they have to eat, for them eating turtles is a luxury because they have regular(chicken)eggs almost everyday.They actually think they are varying their meal.Third, we all animals, that diference is we wear clothes, have functional legs and arms and brain. If the other savage animals could actually eat all of us they without thinking that one day we will be endangered species. If somebody actually inform them of the importance of preserving endangered species, they would probably eat something else.
Most people would read your post and be concerned. It is a normal reaction because there is something out of balance ever since society conveniently put far away the slaughtering which is necessary to eat meat. If people had to decapitate the animals they eat, there would be many more vegetarians. Not only do we crave the meat, we also want it as cheap as possible. This combination puts us in the state that we are in today. But how to break the cycle? first thing would be sacrifice and to lead by example. Sacrifice because for most people, meat tastes good, it is delicious actually. In our society people seek pleasure and very few try to cut off desire and practice abstinence. This desire is so strong that even the obvious consequences of meat eating, such as obesity and heart problems, are overlooked. The next thing that needs to be done is inform the unknowing public about it, but how many people are willing to become advocates of vegetarianism? it is a good question. Last thing we need to consider is how well cemented the food industry is. They are powerful beyond measure and the power has been given to them by the people. Because of the inertia which now exists, a dramatic change will not happen at a large scale, only on a per individual basis. However, life tends to seek balance and no action lacks a consequence. Maybe in the future we will be forced to return to a more responsible way of eating as our survival may depend on it.
This is the cost payed by many animals for us to have cheaper food in America. In other country natural food are not too expensive and it's may be one of the causes why people here are less careless. I eat Mc Donald a lot not because it's not a good food but because sometimes that's what my wallet allowed me to afford. I do eat lots of salad but I am still more a meat person the a vegetarian. People should should be more careful about what they are eating . America has one of the highest obesity in the world.While certain country like India see the cow as a divine animal us American kill them by mass and eat them. I hope in the future people will be more conscious about their eating habit.
Not that i want to defend the fast food industry, But i have to be honest and say that it does come in handy sometimes. maintaing full time school, full time work and living by my self makes it highly difficult for me to stop and make myself a decent meal at home. In the other hand i don't agree with the ethical treatment that animals are given under the supervision of this companies, animals are born and slaughter within a few months; they go through their short lives suffering due to cruel treatment which ends with them being packed up in bags of bacon. This food is BAD since at the end of the day whosever eating this food is basically in taking all the hormones that were giving to the animal to speed up their growing. Most people believe it tends to be cheaper but if you sit down and calculate, you'll easily realize that you can easily afford food for longer with the same amount of money. just today i bought myself a 5 pound bag of rice and some pork chops and it costed me the same amount that would cost me to eat 2 meals at mcdonalds.
I have been a vegetarian since my sophomore year of high school which will soon be 5 years, but the extent to which the American livestock companies (because there is no way anyone can call them farms) neglect not only their animal's rights but also the health of their consumers and the health of the environment itself never ceases to amaze me. So where to begin? let's start well at the beginning. The farms in the united states that are growing our staple crop corn use tons and tons of fertilizers and insecticides that are not in any way natural. These chemicals not only endanger our environment by being washed off into rivers and lakes and poisoning animals on all levels of the food chain, but they also endanger all our lives. There chemicals, which are very dangerous to the human health, are carried in heavily compressed carts on trains that go through cities and towns. In the case that one of these trains is derailed and the chemicals leak out the whole area for many miles had to be closed down because the chemicals form a cloud that has the potential to kill most organisms that inhale it. Now going up a little from the basics of crops are the many livestock companies that use these crops to feed the animals. These concentration camps for animals they call farms are if put to human standards are the equivalent of packing twenty people living in an efficiency where there is no bathroom and everyone takes a shit and pisses (pardon my french) on the floor and there is no maid. There living conditions for this animals are horrifying to say the least
I see that we go though cycles in life. The current craze to eat out instead of eating at home is just as deteriorating and harmful to our health as the craze for us eating in and eating frozen food or highly refined food with no nutritional content. Each era has had their own issue in regards to food. A small number of people are making sustainable food possible that allow people to buy directly from smaller farmers. Also, a trip to your local grocery store now includes if you happen to be shopping at a store like Publix organic, farm raised, free range, without pesticide, fruits, vegetables, and meat and poultry. The start of the $5.00 per gallon for gasoline has made an impact in the way we perceive things to be. It served as a real wake- up call to our blind dependency on all things non-local. All of the sudden, or so it seemed, there was a price increase on almost anything that had to be transported or produced and the reason behind the price increase was to “cover the increase in fuel”. I see it this way, for every dollar I spend of my hard earned money there has to be a purpose behind it. I don’t just think hey what do I need to get? I keep these questions in mind: Where is it from? Is it local? Is it in season? What’s in/on it? If you were face to face with the growers you would ask these things automatically. Pushing a shopping cart around makes everything blend as if they all came from the same place. The ugly truth is that we control who or what will be available for next year and if we buy crap we will get crap. -Ina Dougherty
These conditions can breed nothing but horribly sick and unhealthy animals which are then slaughtered by being hanged by the legs and having their throats slit not without before hang their heads shot through with a nail gun. These are in no way humane ways of treating this animals let alone letting conditions from which we should get our food and nourishment. Now to proceed to the highest level and also the most disgusting, the consumer. This is by far the most vile out of everyone. The consumers stuff their bodied with ton and tons of meat not even bothering to find out where all this things come from and in what condition the factories are in. For all they know their high fat, high protein, low vitamin diets could consist of rat and they wouldn't know the difference. They follow the rest of the lemmings eating whatever cheap shit is put in front of them. This is the sickness of the human condition we follow what puts more things in their bellies and takes less out of their wallets. This is just wrong and we as consumers should use our influence to change what the factories do and have the big companies cater to our needs as healthy conscious people and not have it the other way around. -Tomas E. Pendola
After reading this article I feel disgusted on how companies try to sell us polluted food like this. I don't eat bacon or pork and from reading this I don't plan on eating it anytime soon. I can't believe they would lock them all in polluted areas and expect them to be healthy when slaughtered and sold to the American people. And on top of that they sell it cheap to we would be able to buy it. But they don't care about us they only care about our money. They don't care about the people getting sick off their pork they only care about the next dollar
WOW, this meal looks amazing, very well cooked and as you stated it not time consuming whatsoever. This is not the typical meals that people cook, yet is good to add variety. Simple, fast and delicious.I will defeniely be trying to cook it this week. Thank you Prof.
WOW, this meal looks amazing, very well cooked and as you stated it not time consuming whatsoever. This is not the typical meals that people cook, yet is good to add variety. Simple, fast and delicious.I will defeniely be trying to cook it this week. Thank you Prof.
Are humans really dependent on these types of food to survive? Do similar substitutes exist that provide us with the same nutrition value? Are these short term pleasures really worth the long term risk? These are the questions we as human must ask ourselves when dealing with the topic of food. If what this article claims is true and the bad food that we eat is being provided to us by causing ecological problems and countless other hazards in our environment, then we as a species must make the transition to another source of food, one that does not have any hidden fees and taxes that will show up later on our bill.
I think the idea of human people doing things like that to a pig is distasteful...Pluse the all that chemical and growth they shoot them up with goes into our body. For some of us who eat meat...That's why you have little girls developing a little faster or some people like my self is starting to realize that the meat is starting to taste un real...
38 comments:
Wow what an eye opener. I love meat and eat it with every meal but this is a very high price to pay. I used to eat fast food a lot but realized that it is not good. The fact that humans are on the top of this specific food chain is sad because that subjects to animals, like the pig mentioned, to inhumane situations. The level of ignorance has escalated.People tend to be ignorant about where their food comes from and even how these animals feel. I am not saying to stop eating meat on a whole but cutting back and avoiding these fast food places is definately a start. If every American opened his/her eyes an cuts back, this would change how these pigs are raised. The general demand would not be so high and these pigs would probably have a longer life span than 5 months. The animals might be there to be eaten but not treated and raised the way they are being now. From darkness in the cave to the light outside is definately needed!
-Tiffany Orr
It really is sad. When I was about 7 years old my dad scared about eating McDanolds and Burger KIng and the whole pack of FRIED FRIED FRIED. Everytime it so happens that I step feet into these places, there's a certain stenth that bothers my nose. I'm 18 years old, My diet is probably unhealthy due to the fact that I barely eat since I work full time and go to school full time, but I think its time to do something about it. The mere image of those slaughtered pigs is sickening, Like I've said before-I'm not one for animals, but its just sad to see thet they go through soo much so that we can get our 39 cent burger at McDanolds =). Sad.
Silvia Vargas
To me this is a very important post. I would really like to address the question that you ended it off with though.
"What do we do about it?"
I read in an article that obesity rates will soar dramatically in most parts of the world by the end of this new year. It says in 2010the number of overweight and obese people is expected to hit 26 million.
Now you can ask what happened to the society over time that the obesity level soared? My opinion is that this does not have so much to do with healthy food being pricey but it has more to do with the laziness of the society today. People are not exercising or being as active as they should be. The excuse that most people come up with is the lack of time. But to me this is not really an excuse. A person can make time if they want to make time. Do we not make time to get dressed in the morning? Or to brush our teeth for that metter?
It just depends on if you make your eating habits important to you.
Time can always be used or wasted. It just depends on what you actually do with it. You can either take the ten minutes to run into a Mc Donalds to buy the so called "Happy Meal" or you can take those ten minutes in the morning to make a small salad.
The choice is pretty much up to each individual on what they decide to do with their time.
-Jacqueline Saka-
This is an eye-opener on many articles that I have read about the cruelty that animals go through so we can get that cheap juicy burger. I admit it I love McDonalds chicken nuggets and fries, although I avoid eating fast food meals due to maintaining good health. I ‘am always very busy and that’s when I eat junk. Most of the time I eat very little meat as less as possible and more fruits, grains, salads and yogurt. Junk food after a while for me it makes me sick to my stomach even worst hearing about where it comes from to others it makes them obese. Lately I have even started drinking soy milk to avoid the fat. We should all think about what we are intake in our bodies it is most definitely dangerous for our health in the long run. I think they should make more fast food locations with healthy food like salads, and fruits as a competition next to McDonalds with affordable prices, the likeliness of this happening is low in the meanwhile think ahead and plan a healthy snack.
-Scarleth Lazo-
Wow. To be honest, I was already aware of this...but when you don't have much money, it gets really hard to avoid eating this (speaking for self). I don't like pork all that much and this really disgusts me. The real problem is in those who demand it. The more people want, the more people will get. It's really sad. The brainwashing has been engraved in our minds too deeply, unfortunately, and many aren't even aware of it. The best that we can hope for is that those who are aware actually try something, otherwise, the pigs (and other animals) and all humans (chemicals!) are screwed. Yes, I said it, screwed.
I love meat! Especially pork. I eat meat almost everyday and sometimes I do think about what animal was sacrified to feed my stomach; some people say "OH but they are just animals they don't have feelings", yeah okay but they do feel the pain that they are being put through or the suffering of not being in there natural habitat. It completely breaks me and grosses me out when I think that I am helping this society to continue to do such horrendous things! Wow! And how horrible it is that the waste is being dumped in such a careless way. My planet earth is being polluted because of all of this... I will try my best to reduce my meat eating habits.
This meat problem is horrible, being a marine fanatic the runoff toxins is what actually bothers me the most. However there should be no excuse for the cruelty not only towards the pigs, but cows and chickens also.
As far as obesity, yes the food quality is the number one reason for obesity but there are a lot of factors out there that have also stretched out america's waist line.
And for those with money issues, there are many other places where you can get better quality food for just a dollar or two more. instead of ordering food you can turn to the "old school" way and cook simple meals or make a sandwich.
Wow, I could not believe this picture. That is outrageous. For starters I dont eat pork, ever. Sometimes I'll have a chicken sandwich from mcdonalds knowing how unhealthy it is. Its just that most americans live on a tight budget and thats the food that they can afford. Its sad but uts the truth. I also believe the obesity rate has sky rocketed because of these fast food chains.
-Kayla Mantofel
Most of the time we eat meat without thinking about what that animal might have gone through during his/her life. I think that educating the public more about what actually happens before and even after these animals are slaughtered for their meat is of vital importance. That way more people will be able to make better food choices rather than being oblivious, now they will know the reason why they chose their meal preferences.
- Madelayne Cisneros
Even before this situation i did not eat pig, after what i just saw i will never evven think about it. in the manner that they take care of those pigs nobody should be eating it. like you said it not good for us or the environment. At this point in time because of our financial difficulties, people are looking for cheap food not healthy, so what ever can fit their budget is what they get. so what they think about first is not the money but, their health and vegetables are not as expensive as people think. So the bottom line is that people should listen to TV commercial but, worry about your health and, the environment.
By looking at these pictures I'm very saddened, but as a human being I really believe that one of us has to stand to say enough is enough.I really feel sorry for those Turtles, they can not defend themselves in against this cruel action ,where I can compare this human being as predators who were preying on the turtle eggs.I believe the best solution for that problem is for the government of Costa Rica to make it illegal to take the turtle eggs for consumption. For people who believe in a great cause in the world I want them to round up and protest against this cruelty not to extinct the turtle species.
One would never expect such dire results from eating a piece of pork. Imagine, one dead pig can kill a 1000 fish. I understand that this is something to worry about and that should be spread to many circles of people and yet, how do you expect to stop people from eating fast food? I'll tell you. Turn this country into a communist one and then nobody will eat fast food legally. Of course nobody wants this, so go and tell your friends. Next thing you know, PETA will rule the US with an iron fist.
I am totally in agreement with what I have just read. The problem is that if we keep on eating bad these company will keep on polluting our planet. I decided to stop eating McDonald when I went back to the gym but sometime the craving of a French fries or the new Mac rap let loose of my hypocritical behavior. We definitely need to start eating right and prevent our world of further damages.
After reading this article, I'm not surprised at all. I suggest you watch the movie Food Inc.
Being a vegetarian, food is one of my favorite topics. I used to eat every type of meat before I moved to the states. In other countries food is much healthier and animals are actually farmed as they used to be, they treat the animals with integrity and give them their value. On the other hand, in the states most of the animals are now being feed with corn due to its low value. For example, this in cows produces ECOLI since they are supposed to be feed with grass. In USA there are only 13 slaughter houses all of them have deals with fast food industries; at the time they grind the meat they do not grind one cows' meat at a time but instead all together. What does this mean? if two cows with ecoli were grind by themselves and turned in into paties other than mixing them all up fewer paties would contain ecoli making it less risky. Further more their way of treating the animals is not appropriate, they treat them as things and not as beings.
Yes, they are brain washing us but also people dont value and treat their bodies as they should. We are not supposed to eat the cheapest things but instead, real food, vegetables, fruits, non fat yogurts, and milk.
Economy is managed by what we demand and if fast food is such a huge issue is because a lot of people wants it. Every time you buy something people are voting on what they want and that is what will be supplied. Make decisions, but the right ones!!!!
This will continue to be a problem until we as a nation address this issue on two fronts: legislation and education. We need to create legislations that creates and enforces specific standards. The standards we have now are vague and full of loopholes. Most importantly is education. Nutrition should be taught during K-12. We need to change the way Americans think about food and the only way to do that is to break baad habits before they are ingrained in us. We aren't made to consume huge quantities of meat. If we start eating the proper portions we will reduce demand. This reduced demand combined with the legislation we need will move us away from large CAFOs and back to regular farming.
Casandra Frye
Reading this article reminded me of watching a documentary on animal cruelty where we watched how some people would slaughter dogs, cats, rats, and chickens in order to provide food for society and in many of these places they would tell people how tasteful this food will be, but the customer did not realize that what they were consuming is not what they would imagine consuming. Sometimes we find it so easy to say oh ill just pass by McDonalds and buy something for lunch or dinner because it’s closer to where I live or work. And also because it is much easier for me to buy myself something and I wouldn’t have to cook for myself or for my family. And that is where we don’t see that we are harming ourselves by eating so much junk food. Consuming so much junk food we are risking ourselves to so much sickness and unhealthy situations such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and many more. We should be able to consume foods like these and substitute them with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthy food. I’m a meat lover and my family is too, but it is time for us to avoid so much meat because it is not healthy for any of us.
Excluding fast food, I love to eat meat. However I do agree with inhumane treatment received by the animals brought up for our consumption. If I could I would raise my own animals but since i can not it is good that I am not obligated to. The industry of meat mass production as we know it should rethink its approach on the matter of how they raising animals. Unfortunately we as humans do not learn our lesson until we F**k up majorly and only now that our actions are having great environmental consequences (like the death of the fishes in the Gulf of Mexico)as well as health issues(American has the greatest amount of over weight people),are people slowly beginning to realize that something is not right with our way of handling the food industry. The treatment the animals receive is terrible undeserved, plus the hormones and antibiotics given to them can't exactly be good for either us or the animals. I don't expect these slaughter houses to give these animals five star accommodations but, at least they should treat them humanely with respect and gratitude. After all their lives are being sacrificed to sustain our own, a gift from nature that we take for grated. That does not go for just pig but every single animal that is consumed by a human. It's like a group of friend that go out to eat and just stuff their faces and when the bill arrives they argue amongst each other, struggling to pay. The only difference here is that the bill is already more than what we can afford but we are not even done. Hopefully the day eat ourselves into dept with nature never comes. What should be done along with a different approach to the food industry is for people to stop eating at places like McDanols ( either way barbecued, homemade buggers taste a million times better).
I believe that these inhumane processes "they" are taking with these inncocent animals are only being done because of us. The demand for "bad food" or sirimply food as we usually see in our day to day lives gives "the" business a surviving chance. As an economics major I hold some of the truth about "bad food" expectations in my books. The large corporations are just trying to feed the hunger(demand) we seem to have, the hunger for the cruelty of animals and worse, the hunger for clogging our own arteries as young as 5 years of age. WE are responsible for this demand for cruelty and we as a society must show them and ourselves that WE can and will survive with healthier choices of food so that these such processes of inhumane nature will be put to a stop.
After reading the article it was really shocking to read how meat being produced is affecting our environment. When I was younger I did like to eat at fast food places but once I got older I stopped. I learned before how animals were being mistreated and the horrible truth of how that meat at either McDonald's or any other fast food place was being produced. Unfortunately, we live in a country where fast food is so popular and advertised so much but I believe Americans should learn more about how bad those foods are process and how it can affect your health. Lately I have heard in the news that Burger King is also trying to make it into a restaurant type where they will server beer. This to me is just too much, and it is scary to think that more adults will be going as a meal with a beer will cost you a merely $7.99. I hope more Americans realize that is not fair on their health, the animals suffering, and our environment.
This is exactly what the public needs to see, so there can be a stop with all this manslaughter. Fast food has always been a major factor in why America is the top nation with people suffering from obesity. Knowledge of what your eating everyday should be implemented in people daily. We don't know what we are eating, we eat because it taste good, but with that comes a high price. This has been an eye opener for me.
-Tashina Gonzales
I've become more and more interested digging up the the details of the food industry. This article helped push my interest, so on the first page, they mentioned an investigative journalist called Eric Shlosser. He's written a New York Times best-selling book called Fast Food Nation" which provides details behind the fast food industry. I've been reading it for my first time, so I thought it'd be helpful to share details behind the Times article. These are mostly direct quotes from the book:
- Fast food restaurant managers have their bonuses correlated with success at cutting labor costs
- None of the workers at 15,000 McDonald's are represented by a union (McDonald's systematically fires its workers and shuts down a store if they do)
- 80% of the American market for frozen french fries is owned by Simpot, Lamb Weston, and McCain
- The giant processing companies do their best to drive down the prices offered to potato farmers
- Since the prices are reduced so low from company to "rival" company, it's too hard for normal farmers to compete and end up being run out of business
- The same concept applies for cattle raisers and chicken raisers
- IBP, a meatpacking company, maintains a labor office in Mexico City and advertises their jobs for their company in America
- A huge number of workers in these meat-packing companies are illegal immigrants
- 75% of cattle in the U.S. were routinely fed livestock wastes (like dead sheep and cattle). They were also fed dead cats and dogs from animal shelters until the FDA banned this which became known as "mad cow disease."
- Current FDA regulations allow dead pigs, horses, and poultry to be fed to cattle
I'm becoming a vegetarian!
- Julie McConnell
Reading this article plus the Time magazine article really opened my eyes. Now I know why I'm not really a meat eating person. Though I will admit that I eat my fair share of chicken and pork from time to time and it does hurt me to know that I am part of the pain that those animals are feeling.
I am from Spain, i have been living here in Miami and learning from this new culture since a year and a half ago. And i have to say it. This is way different from Spain.
In this new culture people is brainwashed as well as in Spain, however. Here in US, in food matters, brainwashing worked better than in Spain. People in the US helped by the advertisements on TV, how cheap is the fast food and the stressing lives everybody as in here has become a number one client of this kind of eating.
In Spain, when you say i'm full, you mean it, you say it with a happy smile because you just ate something delicious as a gazpacho or lentejas. Here, if you have time to say something before going back to work you say " im full and feel like a fat ass" which is kind of sad. How can people say that and keep eating the same way?
Right now, anything related with helping the planet, saving the turtles etc is being quickly replaced with a $1 mcburger. People is not conscious of the effects not only surrounding them but yet also their own body effects of the decisions they are making with fast food. Society isn't helping either, smart the guy that decided to establish a mcdonalds in front of Miami Dade. I would have done the same if i wanted to get lots of money out of us. But, the effects that this will cause? It's impressive how my friends from Spain think about a chicken soup from grandma when their hungry and my friends from Miami think about going to Wendy's. Wake up! it's so much nice to eat and take a nap than to stress ourselves because we want to keep eating fast and running to keep working while if your organized and take a break you will probably even live longer and happier!
I personally understand the natives of this country. First of all I dont think they have no idea that eating those turtle eggs has an effect on these endangered species. Second, they ARE living in poor country you know, they have to eat, for them eating turtles is a luxury because they have regular(chicken)eggs almost everyday.They actually think they are varying their meal.Third, we all animals, that diference is we wear clothes, have functional legs and arms and brain. If the other savage animals could actually eat all of us they without thinking that one day we will be endangered species.
If somebody actually inform them of the importance of preserving endangered species, they would probably eat something else.
Most people would read your post and be concerned. It is a normal reaction because there is something out of balance ever since society conveniently put far away the slaughtering which is necessary to eat meat. If people had to decapitate the animals they eat, there would be many more vegetarians. Not only do we crave the meat, we also want it as cheap as possible. This combination puts us in the state that we are in today. But how to break the cycle? first thing would be sacrifice and to lead by example. Sacrifice because for most people, meat tastes good, it is delicious actually. In our society people seek pleasure and very few try to cut off desire and practice abstinence. This desire is so strong that even the obvious consequences of meat eating, such as obesity and heart problems, are overlooked. The next thing that needs to be done is inform the unknowing public about it, but how many people are willing to become advocates of vegetarianism? it is a good question.
Last thing we need to consider is how well cemented the food industry is. They are powerful beyond measure and the power has been given to them by the people. Because of the inertia which now exists, a dramatic change will not happen at a large scale, only on a per individual basis. However, life tends to seek balance and no action lacks a consequence. Maybe in the future we will be forced to return to a more responsible way of eating as our survival may depend on it.
This is the cost payed by many animals for us to have cheaper food in America. In other country natural food are not too expensive and it's may be one of the causes why people here are less careless. I eat Mc Donald a lot not because it's not a good food but because sometimes that's what my wallet allowed me to afford. I do eat lots of salad but I am still more a meat person the a vegetarian. People should should be more careful about what they are eating . America has one of the highest obesity in the world.While certain country like India see the cow as a divine animal us American kill them by mass and eat them. I hope in the future people will be more conscious about their eating habit.
Steeve Philippe
Not that i want to defend the fast food industry, But i have to be honest and say that it does come in handy sometimes. maintaing full time school, full time work and living by my self makes it highly difficult for me to stop and make myself a decent meal at home. In the other hand i don't agree with the ethical treatment that animals are given under the supervision of this companies, animals are born and slaughter within a few months; they go through their short lives suffering due to cruel treatment which ends with them being packed up in bags of bacon. This food is BAD since at the end of the day whosever eating this food is basically in taking all the hormones that were giving to the animal to speed up their growing. Most people believe it tends to be cheaper but if you sit down and calculate, you'll easily realize that you can easily afford food for longer with the same amount of money. just today i bought myself a 5 pound bag of rice and some pork chops and it costed me the same amount that would cost me to eat 2 meals at mcdonalds.
I have been a vegetarian since my sophomore year of high school which will soon be 5 years, but the extent to which the American livestock companies (because there is no way anyone can call them farms) neglect not only their animal's rights but also the health of their consumers and the health of the environment itself never ceases to amaze me. So where to begin? let's start well at the beginning. The farms in the united states that are growing our staple crop corn use tons and tons of fertilizers and insecticides that are not in any way natural. These chemicals not only endanger our environment by being washed off into rivers and lakes and poisoning animals on all levels of the food chain, but they also endanger all our lives. There chemicals, which are very dangerous to the human health, are carried in heavily compressed carts on trains that go through cities and towns. In the case that one of these trains is derailed and the chemicals leak out the whole area for many miles had to be closed down because the chemicals form a cloud that has the potential to kill most organisms that inhale it. Now going up a little from the basics of crops are the many livestock companies that use these crops to feed the animals. These concentration camps for animals they call farms are if put to human standards are the equivalent of packing twenty people living in an efficiency where there is no bathroom and everyone takes a shit and pisses (pardon my french) on the floor and there is no maid. There living conditions for this animals are horrifying to say the least
I see that we go though cycles in life. The current craze to eat out instead of eating at home is just as deteriorating and harmful to our health as the craze for us eating in and eating frozen food or highly refined food with no nutritional content. Each era has had their own issue in regards to food. A small number of people are making sustainable food possible that allow people to buy directly from smaller farmers. Also, a trip to your local grocery store now includes if you happen to be shopping at a store like Publix organic, farm raised, free range, without pesticide, fruits, vegetables, and meat and poultry.
The start of the $5.00 per gallon for gasoline has made an impact in the way we perceive things to be. It served as a real wake- up call to our blind dependency on all things non-local. All of the sudden, or so it seemed, there was a price increase on almost anything that had to be transported or produced and the reason behind the price increase was to “cover the increase in fuel”.
I see it this way, for every dollar I spend of my hard earned money there has to be a purpose behind it. I don’t just think hey what do I need to get? I keep these questions in mind: Where is it from? Is it local? Is it in season? What’s in/on it? If you were face to face with the growers you would ask these things automatically. Pushing a shopping cart around makes everything blend as if they all came from the same place. The ugly truth is that we control who or what will be available for next year and if we buy crap we will get crap.
-Ina Dougherty
These conditions can breed nothing but horribly sick and unhealthy animals which are then slaughtered by being hanged by the legs and having their throats slit not without before hang their heads shot through with a nail gun. These are in no way humane ways of treating this animals let alone letting conditions from which we should get our food and nourishment. Now to proceed to the highest level and also the most disgusting, the consumer. This is by far the most vile out of everyone. The consumers stuff their bodied with ton and tons of meat not even bothering to find out where all this things come from and in what condition the factories are in. For all they know their high fat, high protein, low vitamin diets could consist of rat and they wouldn't know the difference. They follow the rest of the lemmings eating whatever cheap shit is put in front of them. This is the sickness of the human condition we follow what puts more things in their bellies and takes less out of their wallets. This is just wrong and we as consumers should use our influence to change what the factories do and have the big companies cater to our needs as healthy conscious people and not have it the other way around.
-Tomas E. Pendola
After reading this article I feel disgusted on how companies try to sell us polluted food like this. I don't eat bacon or pork and from reading this I don't plan on eating it anytime soon. I can't believe they would lock them all in polluted areas and expect them to be healthy when slaughtered and sold to the American people. And on top of that they sell it cheap to we would be able to buy it. But they don't care about us they only care about our money. They don't care about the people getting sick off their pork they only care about the next dollar
WOW, this meal looks amazing, very well cooked and as you stated it not time consuming whatsoever. This is not the typical meals that people cook, yet is good to add variety. Simple, fast and delicious.I will defeniely be trying to cook it this week. Thank you Prof.
Liony Arzu
WOW, this meal looks amazing, very well cooked and as you stated it not time consuming whatsoever. This is not the typical meals that people cook, yet is good to add variety. Simple, fast and delicious.I will defeniely be trying to cook it this week. Thank you Prof.
Liony Arzu
Are humans really dependent on these types of food to survive? Do similar substitutes exist that provide us with the same nutrition value? Are these short term pleasures really worth the long term risk? These are the questions we as human must ask ourselves when dealing with the topic of food. If what this article claims is true and the bad food that we eat is being provided to us by causing ecological problems and countless other hazards in our environment, then we as a species must make the transition to another source of food, one that does not have any hidden fees and taxes that will show up later on our bill.
-Jorge Cano
I think the idea of human people doing things like that to a pig is distasteful...Pluse the all that chemical and growth they shoot them up with goes into our body. For some of us who eat meat...That's why you have little girls developing a little faster or some people like my self is starting to realize that the meat is starting to taste un real...
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