Food Products and the Food Industry

[ImCoolBeans]

I've seen a few documentaries lately and some videos here and there that give insight into what's really going on with the food industry. The conditions the animals are kept in are absolutely disgusting, it makes me ill to think about it. When these animals are brought to the slaughter house they are so obese that they can barely even move - once slaughtered they are handled very poorly in unsanitary conditions. Not to mention how poorly they are treated on the farm, cows are generally fed on a corn diet rather than grass - which causes several health issues with the animal. Cows are usually kept in large housing facilities packed so tightly that they can't walk around. They are caked in their own (and other cows') feces, and rarely see daylight. They're pumped with growth hormones to speed up their growth cycles, they put the weight on so quickly that they can't even build enough muscle to sustain it. It is not uncommon for them to drop dead and be left there rotting in feces until the rest of the cows are ready to be brought to the slaughter house.

You would think that when they are brought to be slaughtered that they would wash all of that feces and mud off of them, but they don't. The animals are put onto the line and slaughtered as is.

If it is ground beef they want, a cardboard-like filler is added, which is soaked in ammonia and then mixed in with the meat to kill potential bacteria. In theory this may sound beneficial - but in reality we're just consuming chemicals which are trying to mask the bacteria which is in the meat.

The government is not intervening in this properly because they don't want this industry to have any issues. I think this just goes to show how corrupt our government is - potentially putting their own citizens at risk for the good of an industry, which in the end will benefit them.

I think this is a serious issue, we're eating potentially life threatening meat and most people are not aware of it, and more importantly the government doesn't really care.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[TheMatrix]

The government is not intervening in this properly because they don't want this industry to have any issues.
That's what the government wants you to think. The reality is that the food industry is governed by the very people who used to be CEO of some of the large food companies. But what can we [the people] do about it? They have more money.

[BFG9001]

Absolutely nothing we can do. I also don't think animals should be treated like royalty. It makes killing them harder.

[ImCoolBeans]

Absolutely nothing we can do. I also don't think animals should be treated like royalty. It makes killing them harder.

But they should be kept in unsanitary conditions that possibly endanger us?

[dead]

That's what the government wants you to think. The reality is that the food industry is governed by the very people who used to be CEO of some of the large food companies. But what can we [the people] do about it? They have more money.

That was what I wanted to say, but just to add on to what has already been said, if you want to find out about how a government official really is when it comes to hidden issues you should look in to the donors.

[Black Eight]

Absolutely nothing we can do. I also don't think animals should be treated like royalty. It makes killing them harder.

There actually is something we can do about it. We can press our legislators reform the food industry by raising the standard for farms and slaughter houses. However, since very few people even realize that there's a problem, nothing will probably happen.

[ImCoolBeans]

There actually is something we can do about it. We can press our legislators reform the food industry by raising the standard for farms and slaughter houses. However, since very few people even realize that there's a problem, nothing will probably happen.

People fail to see past the surface. There seriously needs to be a reform, but the chances of it happening are slim because as you said - very few people are aware.

[BFG9001]

People fail to see past the surface. There seriously needs to be a reform, but the chances of it happening are slim because as you said - very few people are aware.

Exactly what I was saying.

[TheMatrix]

I've said this so many times: Ignorance is bliss.

[Syvelocin]

I'll take a concept expressed in the documentary Food Inc. to describe how I feel about this thread.

The reason this is going on is our fault. Yep. Because we are buying the product. If the ENTIRE (or at least a number worthy of losing McDonald's, for instance, being the largest buyer of beef and bacon in the world, a significant amount of money so we can make a statement) public decided to only buy locally grown vegetables, locally-raised meat from humane farmers, you know what they would sell? Just that. Ever wonder why there's a whole aisle devoted to just junk food? We made it that way. The consumer has ALL the power. It is most definitely NOT the other way around. They cater to what WE want, or they go out of business. That's how it works. Because we continue to buy processed foods and hormone-pumped chicken, we're just preserving the way the industry is right now. You can get healthy, natural, nutritious and humane food you know, you have access to that. People as a whole however are voting for the slaughterhouses, we're voting for McDonald's and we're voting for unhealthy foods and we're voting for pesticide-ridden crops.

I know your feelings are in the right place, I feel that way too of course. That's why I'm a vegetarian, I'm for the humane treatment of animals. I buy the produce I do eat from local farms. If you give your money to local farms, then the local farms won't be eradicated. They're going out of business, which leads to the rise of the industrial farm, which is exactly what you describe. Mass enclosures of animals hip to hip never seeing the light of day. But you know, debating it on a forum doesn't change it. Maybe it'll open a few peoples' eyes at the most. But protesting it actively to your representatives, casting your nutritional votes when you go to the grocery store, that's what we need to be doing.

[Rayquaza]

Well apparently American milk contains pus. Eww.

[RElk]

What the hell do I care? My job is just to stock the shelfs so people can buy them lol.