Megan Thurber
America's Meat Supply
America’s meat supply is said to be
the safest in the world. But every year an average of seventy-six million Americans
get sick from a food borne illness. Out of those seventy-six million three
hundred and twenty-five thousand are hospitalized. But the worst part is that
five thousand people die a year from food borne illnesses. To prevent this from
happening the animals are given antibiotics. Seventy-seven percent of America’s
antibiotics go to the animals on the farms. But the antibiotics might be doing
more harm than good.
When
I first began my research I was expecting to read about how unsanitary our meat
supply is. I was surprised to learn that America’s meat was one of the safest
in the world. But that was not completely true. The more I researched the more
I realized that our meat supply is not safe. All of the antibiotics are
creating resistant disease that could wipe out a country. I learned that they
feed the animals things like corn with hormones added to them that make them
grow to unnatural sizes. This is causing the meat to have saturated fat causing
more problems for people in the long run. I also learned that other countries
like Russia will not allow America's meat supply in to their country because
of the antibiotics and dangerous hormones in our meat. If our meat supply is
the safest, than it does not make sense that other countries will not let our
meat into them.
The
Antibiotic put into our meat supply are harmful in many different ways not only
to humans, but to the animals as well. It is a well known fact that doctor have stopped giving antibiotics to patience unless they really need it. This is
because the viruses being treated by antibiotics are becoming resistant. Many
humans are hospitalized every year because of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
This can become a real problem. Swine flu was thought to be created by a pig
farm. With all of the pigs living so close together in their own waste, it is
very likely to be where the virus came from.
The
antibiotics affect the animals even more than the people eating them. Many of
the animals are being fed hormones as well as antibiotics which are making them
gain more muscle. Some animals are growing so much muscle that they can no
longer support their own body weight. This is where Mad Cow Disease came from.
The abnormal proteins in the cows called prions are attacking the tissues in
the cows. This protein is found in the cow’s brain and spinal cord, so to keep
the humans from getting this terrible disease the cow’s brain and spinal cord
are no longer allowed in human or pet food.
In
1950 there were about 44 million tons of meat produced a year. Today there is
close to three-hundred- million tons produced a year. This is possible because
of the hormones fed to the animals which make them grow so much fast and so
much larger. This is also possible because so little animals die now because of
the antibiotics keeping them from getting bacteria. The short term effect of
this is good, but not for the animals. Getting this large causes them pain
because they were not made to be so large. Also there is a possibly of a
disease that could kill many people. The Animals have no choice on if they are
given hormones and antibiotics, but the humans have a choice of if they eat
these animals and support the companies giving them the drugs.
Many
of the drugs given to the animals have been known to increase the ricks of serious
cancers. I learned on www.farmsancuary.org
that six major hormones given to animals to increase their muscle mass can increase
the risk of getting breast, prostate, and colon cancer. Also, the animals on
the farms are fed corn and rice to make them larger than grass alone could
ever. This increase the amount of saturated fat in the meat of the animals. So
when we eat them we are eating more saturated fat which causes obesity and
heard disease. If people where to stop buying and consuming these animals than
the farms would have to stop giving their animals hormones and antibiotics in
order for people to buy from them. Yes, this would make the cost go up and
there be less meat, but Americans eat more meat than they need to already. People
would be healthier, the animals would be healthier, and this would help create
a brighter future.
While
researching I learned that just because the label of the meat says something is
natural does not mean that it is natural. It actually means that there are the
least amount of hormones and antibiotics in them. This is also true for ground
beef. It is labeled meat this is not meat. Ground beef is the trimming of the fat after the real
meat has been taken from the cow. The meat is put through tubes full of ammonia
gas to kill the bacteria and then packaged and sent to the store. It is known
for being called “pink slime” But what is even worse than ground meat is fast
food burgers. Fast food burgers are only twelve percent meet. The rest is
water, preserved skeletal muscle, connective tissues, blood vessels, peripheral
nerves, plant material, cartilage, and bones.
I
learned through my research the good and bad of America’s meat supply. I learned
that since nineteen fifty our meat supply is almost eight times the size it use
to be. The animals have become bigger and the amount of animals has grown.
There are more chickens on earth than humans. I learned that there can be too
much of a good thing and like antibiotics preventing disease and the number of
animals being forced to live so close together causing disease. I believe that
it would be in everyone’s best interest to stop feeding the animals hormones
and also to stop producing so much meat. If we let the animals be grass fed
that would create space because it is no longer needed to grow corn. The animals
would be healthier there for the people eating them would be healthier and it
would prevent disease.
How
safe is our meat supply? – Primary source
This site had a lot of info on how healthy the food we eat
is. It was full of interviews from different people she told me that our meat today
is the safest and healthiest that it has ever been.
The
Trouble with antibiotics video- primary source
This video showed me how antibiotics made the chickens healthier
and grow bigger with less feed. It also told me that the antibiotics were
causing new bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics making them incurable and
causing deaths in America due to food borne illnesses.
This site told me about the different kinds of drugs used in
animals and their purposes. For instance ractopamine is used to increase muscle
mass. This drug has been banned from one-hundred and sixty countries and causes
muscle disability in animals and some die from it. Also, I learned that Russia
no longer allows American meat supply into their country because of the drugs
the animals have in them.
This website told me that ground beef is really just pink
slime. The left over parts of meat that have simmered on low heat and been
sprayed with ammonia to kill the bacteria.
This site told me what can really be found in a fast food hamburger.
I learned that only twelve percent of the burger is meat and the rest are
tissues, cartilage, and bones and water is added for wait. This is without
counting the addatives used for texture, color, and flavor.
This site told me what mad cow disease is. It is a disease
that affects the central nervous system. There is an abnormal protein called
prion that attacks the tissue. To prevent mad cow disease from being passed on
to humans the spinal cord and brain of cows will not be served in the US
because that is where the Prion protein can be found.
This site told me how much more meat is produced each year
since 1950. It also told me that the animals contribute to pollution and
climate change. The pollution is caused by all of the manure. Methane gas and
over grazing cause climate change.
This site told me more about the dangers of hormones and
antibiotic uses on farms. It said that the six hormones commonly used on
factory farms have shown an increase in breast, prostate, and colon cancer. It
also said the unnatural feed cause there to be more saturated fat in mean which
causes heard disease and obesity.
This image shows what hormones are doing to animals. Some
chickens get so big they are not able to walk. It is not healthy for the
chickens to be this big and it is not healthy for humans to consume meat that
is so full of hormones.
This image shows how poorly the animals on these factory farms are treated. Not only are they too heavy to support their own body weight they do not have enough room to even stand up. How healthy can the meet of an animal be if they have been shoved in a cage their whole lives with no exercise.
This is an image that represents what else we are getting
when we buy our meat. So many hormones are put into our meat. Some is to
prevent the animals from getting sick and some is to make the animal grow to unnatural
sizes.
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This
is an image of cows eating food that they should not have to eat. At the bottom
it says mad cows not only to say that it is not right but also because what we
have feed them is bad for them and has caused mad cow disease. It affects the
nervous system and is caused because we give them hormones that make their
muscles grow to abnormal sizes for more meat.
This image shows how even though Americans are aware of what
these hormones are doing to animals and people some of them still do not care. They still buy
the meat and eat it. These hormones make more meat for a cheaper price and as
long as the short term effects are good, the people are not thinking about the
possible detrimental long term effects. Also, the man who does not care that he is eating unhealthy me is the largest man in the picture which I think shows that it is having n affect on him while the other people are aware and refuse to eat something like that.
This is another image that shows how humans are being
ignorant. America could use less hormones but as long as they are not directly affected
by the hormones, or do not notice the effect, they do not care.
This image shows that some people are starting to realize
the effect hormones and antibiotics are having on our meat supply. They are
causing resistant diseases that cannot be treated with antibiotics and they are
cause animals to be in pain, like the chickens that are so heavy they cannot
walk.
This is an image of ground meat. It looks nothing like meat, and I feel that the name "pink slime" is a very appropriate name. Ground meat is actually just the trimmings of meat or the left over parts after the good slabs of meat have already been removed.
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