This act of poultry production for commercial consumption has turned into something so desensitized and inhumane. The factories practicing in intensive chicken farming are raising their chickens in rows of cages with lights to mimic sunlight, environments consisting of one large climate controlled housing where they live in their feces and are fed antibiotics in their water and food to kill diseases, which end up in our human consumption. The raising quarters are so small and close that the chickens are de-beaked to avoid the killing off of other chickens. From these conditions these chickens suffer from ammonia and physical deformities as well as the presence of E. coli. Rough handling of the chickens by the farm workers, slaughtering while still conscious and poor transportation also play a large part in the inhumane aspect of poultry production. Another form of chicken production is Selective breeding where bigger chickens are chosen to create heavy breasted birds. Or farmers can go to the extent of utilizing growth hormones in their production.
These growth hormones make it so the chickens grow larger,
live less and produce more products. As you
have seen in the stores these chicken breast are larger than ever, but
something we fail to realize about these chickens are the multiple additives
injected into these meats such as water and other soluble products to make them
appeal larger. The larger the product the more revenue it
will produce. The average value of
poultry production according to the Value
of production on farms with any poultry production in 1995 data collected
by the Economic Research Service/ USDA was $3,029,070 for all farms with gross
annual sales of over $1,000,000. This statistic
shows that this industry is growing due to the increase in demand. 
We must understand where our food originates from. We buy products from large corporations such
as McDonalds and Walmart who are the number one clients and supporters of these
intensive farming agencies. We must be
educated on the production of our food and obtain food sovereignty. It is our choice to have our chickens to be
raised free ranged without any of the additives and increase of cost due to the
“organic, natural” state it was produced.
The justice of food production and animal cruelty needs to have a voice
and gain public awareness. As consumers
we are ultimately allowing these genetically altered foods to enter our
bodies. And we must no longer provide
these leading corporations with the opportunity to change the face and security
of our foods.
I must admit this was a hard blog for me to read. I am not against eating meat I am however against the way that animals are treated now a days. When I was younger my family (myself included) raised and slaughtered are own chickens and pigs. I say this because I do believe that animals can be raised and slaughtered in a humane way. The way in which animals are treated before and during slaughter has been on an ever increasing downhill turn. It never ceases to amaze me when I read or see how chickens are treated in mass production. The result of this mass production of meat is less nutritious meat and Americans consuming way more meat then necessary. They supply so we demand. We must begin to go back to the original way of raising chickens, pigs and cows.
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed this post. Although in class we mostly discuss agricultural injustice throughout the food industry, we forget how terrible the meat industry has become in the United States. After watching Food Inc. as well as other various videos regarding the meat industry, it's messed up how they raise many animals with the different growth hormones they inject in them as well as the living conditions. Many people don't see how big of a problem this is until they actually see it themselves.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the fact that you are against the way that animals (especially chickens) are being treated to create a production of food but you have to remember the mass amount of chickens produced and manufactured is for the increasing population of people. If hormones are needed to create a more readily accessible resource then humans will use that opportunity. Many people in this world, a good majority of them, consume products like these every day. And chicken is an essential part of the protein needed in a humans diet. This is not something that will change anytime soon unless the value of a chicken's life increases dramatically.
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