Blog Post #5

It's St. Patrick's Day, and I don't give a shit because I'm not Irish. (Or Catholic, or Protestant.)

That being said, here's a blog post.


Prompts for Wed.: In about 500 or so words, write 1) the specific question you propose to answer for your final research paper; 2) your working thesis statement (i.e., a sentence that tells what you think you will prove in that paper, a response to the question you will answer); 3) an overview of what you currently know about the issue; 4) an overview of what you need to find out about the issue; 5) a list of arguments which oppose the one you plan to make; and 6) a list of sources you have looked at on the topic at this point.

1. What are the economic and ethical concerns that arise as a result of high-production factory farming?

2. America’s demand for meat is at an all-time high, consequently placing considerable economic and moral stress on those citizens who concern themselves with food production.

3.

• Animals are being processed in an unreasonably inhumane fashion.
• There are not only several stances being taken on the inhumane treatment of slaughter animals, but different debates which concern the overarching issue of our relation to animals.
• We process billions of farm animals every year for American consumption.
• Federal inspections are tragically insufficient to ensure food safety—yet millions of uninspected animals are stamped with the USDA’s seal of approval.
• In response to the exposure of unsafe inspection practices, the USDA turned the responsibility of consumption to the consumer.
• Chill baths, used to disinfect chicken carcasses, wash the bodies in germs.
• Downer animals are recorded to have been thrown in with animals deemed safe for processing.
• There are multiple governmental reports which have been issued as a result of faulty inspection on behalf of the FSIS. The USDA insists that this is a consequence of poorly educated inspectors.
• E. coli, specifically, results from the corn-based diet that is fed to cows who are being bred for slaughter and dairy production.
• E. coli 0157:H7, a strain of E. coli discussed in Slaughterhouse, is naturally found in cow feces. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escherichia_coli_O157:H7
• Something like 90% of the meat processed in the United States is done in 13 slaughterhouses.
  

4.

• How safe is the food we eat?
• Is there a rational, ethical answer to the vegetarian vs. meat-eating debate?

5.

• The USDA argues that food poisoning and germs (e.g., E. coli, salmonella) are naturally in raw meat, and consumers should focus on thoroughly cooking their food.
• Many philosophers dealing with ethics have addressed the issue and concluded that meat eating isn't really that bad.
• Major corporations need high-speed food production to meet the demands of American consumers.
• Tyson has a list of core values (www.tyson.com/Consumer/CoreValues.aspx).
  

6.

• Slaughterhouse by Gail Eisnitz.
• Food, Inc. by Robert Kenner.
• Food for Thought edited by Steve Sapontzis.
• Humane Methods of Slaughter Act Weaknesses in USDA Enforcement : Testimony before the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives