Divine HealthIn pursuit of healthy living.

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer was an informative book. Rather than review it I am going to give you excerpts and one quote from the book that I found to be very powerful.

“I’m not radical. In almost every way, I’m a middle-of-the-road person. I don’t have any piercings. No weird haircut. I don’t do drugs. Politically, I’m liberal on some issues and conservative on others. But see, factory farming is a middle-of-the-road issue – something most reasonable people would agree on if they had access to the truth.” … “If I misuse a corporation’s logo, I could potentially be put in jail; if a corporation abuses a billion birds, the law will protect not the birds, but the corporation’s right to do what it wants. That is what it looks like when you deny animals rights. It’s crazy that the idea of animal rights seems crazy to anyone. We live in a world in which it’s conventional to treat an animal like a hunk of wood and extreme to treat an animal like an animal.” Animal activist “C” in her own words.

From 1935 to 1995, the average weight of “broilers” increased by 65%, while their time-to-market dropped 60% and their feed requirements dropped 57%. To gain a sense of the radicalness of this change, imagine human children growing to be three hundred pounds in ten years, while eating only granola bars and Flintstones vitamins. These birds genetics have been altered in a way that has removed their ability to pro-create and they would be so ill that they need a constant flow of antibiotics to stay alive. Not a single turkey you can buy in a supermarket could walk normally, much less jump or fly. They can’t even have sex. Not the antibiotic free, or organic, or free-range, or anything. They all have the same foolish genetics, and their bodies won’t allow for it anymore. What the industry figured out – and this was a real revolution – is that you don’t need healthy animals to make a profit. Sick animals are more profitable. The animals have paid the price for our desire to have everything available at all times for very little money. If consumers don’t want to pay the farmer to do it right, they shouldn’t eat meat. It’s possible you can’t afford to care, but it’s certain you can’t afford not to care.

Pathogen-infested, feces-splattered chicken can technically be fresh, cage-free, and free-range, and sold in the supermarket legally (the feces does not have to rinsed off first). You’ve seen those commercials with the silly chickens that are plumped with “salt water” right? Well, the truth of the matter is that current laws allow companies chicken to include up to 11% of water soaked up during processing. The problem is the water itself. You see, those who know what’s in that water call it “fecal soup”. That means your chicken is 11% fecal soup.

According to a story published in Consumer Reports, 83% of all chicken meat (including organic and antibiotic-free brands) is infected with either campylobacter or salmonella at the time of purchase. Not too surprising when you consider 11% of the chicken was soaked in feces infected water.

The Union of Concerned Scientists calculated that 24.6 million pounds of antibiotics are given to chickens, pigs and other farmed animals every year. That only accounts for medicine given before they get sick.

If you are intrigued, disgusted, interested or otherwise just want to learn more pick up a copy of the book. I found it to be very informative. If you’ve already read the book please let me know what you thought in the comments.