Eating Animals

by Jonathan Safran Foer

  157 about 90 percent of large hog farms . . . U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Swine 2006, Part I: Reference of swine health and management practices in the United States,” October 2007, http://www.aphis.usda .gov/vs/ceah/ncahs/nahms/swine/swine2006/Swine2006_PartI.pdf (accessed August 17, 2009).

  pork industry to breed pigs . . . Madonna Benjamin, “Pig Trucking and Handling: Stress and Fatigued Pig,” Advances in Pork Production, 2005, http://www.afac.ab.ca/careinfo/transport/articles/05benjamin.pdf (accessed July 26, 2009); E. A. Pajor and others, “The Effect of Selection for Lean Growth on Swine Behavior and Welfare,” Purdue University Swine Day, 2000, www.ansc.purdue.edu/swine/swineday/sday00/1.pdf (accessed July 12, 2009); Temple Grandin, “Solving livestock handling problems,” Veterinary Medicine, October 1994, 989–998, http://www .grandin.com/references/solv.lvstk.probs.html (accessed July 26, 2009).

  158 affected 10 percent of slaughtered pigs . . . Steve W. Martinez and Kelly Zering, “Pork Quality and the Role of Market Organization/AER-835,” Economic Research Service/USDA, November 2004, http://www.ers .usda.gov/Publications/aer835/aer835c.pdf (accessed August 17, 2009).

  driving a tractor too close . . . Nathanael Johnson, “The Making of the Modern Pig,” Harper’s Magazine, May 2006, http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/05/0081030 (accessed July 26, 2009).

  more than 15 percent of slaughtered pigs . . . Martinez and Zering, “Pork Quality and the Role of Market Organization/AER-835.” The American Meat Science Association estimate that 15 percent of pork is affected by PSE was challenged by a later study that suggested much of this 15 percent was actually flesh that was only pale, only soft, or only watery. Estimates suggest that only 3 percent of pork has all three negative characteristics. American Meat Science Association, Proceedings of the 59th Reciprocal Meat Conference, June 18–21, 2006, 35 http://www.meatscience.org/Pubs/rmcarchv/2006/presentations/2006 _Proceedings.pdf (accessed August 17, 2009).

  reduced the number of pigs that died in transport . . . Temple Grandin, “The Welfare of Pigs During Transport and Slaughter,” Department of Animal Science, Colorado State University, http://www .grandin.com/references/pig.welfare.during.transport.slaughter.html (accessed June 16, 2009).

  160 In fact, it’s not uncommon . . . While pigs do have heart attacks in transit, far more common is what the industry calls “fatigued pig syndrome,” which is the industry term for pigs “that become nonambulatory without obvious injury, trauma, or disease, and refuse to walk.” Benjamin, “Pig Trucking and Handling: Stress and Fatigued Pig.”

  162 Today there are a tenth as many . . . Fern Shen, “Maryland Hog Farm Causing Quite a Stink,” Washington Post, May 23, 1999; Ronald L. Plain, “Trends in U.S. Swine Industry,” U.S. Meat Export Federation Conference, September 24, 1997.

  in the past ten years alone . . . “Statistical Highlights of US Agriculture 1995–1996,” USDA-NASS 9, http://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Statistical_Highlights/index.asp (accessed July 28, 2009); “Statistical Highlights of US Agriculture 2002–2003,” USDA-NASS 35, http://www .nass.usda.gov/Publications/Statistical_Highlights/2003/contentl.htm (accessed July 28, 2009).

  162 Four companies now produce 60 percent . . . Leland Swenson, president, the National Farmers Union, testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, September 12, 2000.

  In 1930, more than 20 percent . . . C. Dimitri and others, “The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy,” USDA Economic Research Service, June 2005, http://www.ers.usda.gov/ publications/eib3/eib3.htm (accessed July 15, 2009).

  agricultural production doubled between 1820 and 1920 . . . Matthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003), 29.

  In 1950, one farmworker . . . “About Us,” USDA, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, June 9, 2009, http://www .csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/extension.html (accessed July 15, 2009).

  American farmers are four times . . . P. Gunderson and others, “The Epidemiology of Suicide Among Farm Residents or Workers in Five North-Central States, 1980,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 9 (May 1993): 26–32.

  164 The pork sold in practically every supermarket . . . See note to page 12.

  Chipotle is, as of the writing of this book . . . Diane Halverson, “Chipotle Mexican Grill Takes Humane Standards to the Mass Marketplace,” Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly, Spring 2003, http://www.awionline .org/ht/d/ContentDetails/id/11861/pid/2514 (accessed August 17, 2009).

  165 The factory hog farm is still expanding . . . Danielle Nierenberg, “Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry,” Worldwatch Paper #171, Worldwatch Institute, August 2005, 38, http://www.world watch.org/node/819 (accessed July 27, 2009); Danielle Nierenberg, “Factory Farming in the Developing World: In some critical respects this is not progress at all,” Worldwatch Institute, May 2003, http://www.worldwatch.org/epublish/1/v16n3.

  168 His story might have ended . . . Johnson, “The Making of the Modern Pig.”

  about twenty-five to thirty dollars . . . Personal correspondence with head of Niman Ranch’s pork division, Paul Willis, July 27, 2009.

  168 “our old sympathetic attempts . . .” Wendell Berry, “The Idea of a Local Economy,” Orion, Winter 2001, http://www.organicconsumers.org/btc/berry.cfm (accessed August 17, 2009).

  which happens to 90 percent . . . Ninety percent of male piglets are castrated. “The Use of Drugs in Food Animals: Benefits and Risks,” National Academy of Sciences, 1999.

  170 cut off pigs’ tails . . . An estimated 80 percent of industrial pigs have their tails cut off. Ibid.

  or teeth . . . Dr. Allen Harper, “Piglet Processing and Swine Welfare,” Virginia Tech Tidewater AREC, May 2009, http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/news/livestock/2009/05/aps-20090513.html (accessed July 17, 2009); Timothy Blackwell, “Production Practices and Well-Being: Swine,” in The Well-Being of Farm Animals, edited by G. J. Benson and B. E. Rollin (Ames, IA: Blackwell publishing, 2004), 251.

  excessive biting and cannibalism . . . Industry bodies themselves acknowledge the common problems with aggression. For example, the National Pork Producers Council and the National Pork Board have reported: “As pigs come in close contact with each other, they may at times attempt to bite or chew on their pen mates, especially on their tails. Once blood has been drawn from a tail, further biting may result, sometimes leading to cannibalism of the victimized pig.” Swine Care Handbook, published by the National Pork Producers Council in cooperation with the National Pork Board, 1996, http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/ded/swine/swinecar.htm (accessed July 15, 2009). See also: Swine Care Handbook, published by the National Pork Producers Council in cooperation with the National Pork Board, 2003, 9–10; “Savaging of Piglets (Cannibalism),” ThePigSite.com, http://www.thepigsite.com/pighealth/article/260/savaging-of-piglets-canni balism (accessed July 27, 2009); J. McGlone and W. G. Pond, Pig Production (Florence, KY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2002), 301–304; J. J. McGlone and others, “Cannibalism in Growing Pigs: Effects of Tail Docking and Housing System on Behavior, Performance and Immune Function,” Texas Technical University, http://www.depts .ttu.edu/liru_afs/PDF/CANNIBALISMINGROWINGPIGS.pdf (accessed July 27, 2009); K. W. F. Jericho and T. L. Church, “Cannibalism in Pigs,” Canadian Veterinary Journal 13, no. 7 (July 1972).

  170 80 percent of pregnant pigs in America . . . U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Swine 2006, Part I: Reference of swine health and management practices in the United States.”

  1.2 million owned by Smithfield . . . RSPCA, “Improvements in Farm Animal Welfare: The USA,” 2007, http://www.wspa-usa.org/download/44_improvements_in_farm_animal_welfare.pdf (accessed July 27, 2009).

  172 It’s no trivial task to identify . . . See FarmForward.com for details on how to find non-factory-farmed animal products.

  Our methodologies . . . Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace, edited by Norman Wirzba (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2003), 250.

  173 cost Americans $26 b
illion . . . “CAFOs Uncovered: The Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding Operations,” Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008, http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_industrial_agriculture/cafos-uncovered.html (accessed July 27, 2009).

  174 Today a typical pig factory farm will produce . . . USDA, Economic Research Service, “Manure Use for Fertilizer and Energy: Report to Congress,” June 2009, http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AP/AP037/ (accessed August 17, 2009).

  “can generate more raw waste . . .” “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: EPA Needs More Information and a Clearly Defined Strategy to Protect Air and Water Quality from Pollutants of Concern,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2008, http://www.gao .gov/new.items/d08944.pdf (accessed July 27, 2009).

  farmed animals in the United States produce . . . Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, “Environment,” http://www .ncifap.org/issues/environment/ (accessed August 17, 2009).

  87,000 pounds of shit per second . . . The USDA cites a report by the Minority Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry requested by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), which estimates livestock in the United States produce 1.37 billion tons of solid animal waste each year. Dividing this by the number of seconds in a year equals 86,884 pounds of waste per second. Ibid.

  160 times greater than raw municipal sewage . . . This was calculated by John P. Chastain, a University of Minnesota Extension agricultural engineer, based on data from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, in 1991. University of Minnesota Extension, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Engineering Notes, Winter 1995, http://www .bbe.umn.edu/extens/ennotes/enwin95/manure.html (accessed June 16, 2009).

  174 no federal agency even collects . . . “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: EPA Needs More Information and a Clearly Defined Strategy to Protect Air and Water Quality from Pollutants of Concern.”

  175 31 million . . . Smithfield, 2008 Annual Report, 15, http://investors .smithfieldfoods.com/common/download/download.cfm?companyid=SFD&fileid=215496&filekey=CE5E396C-CF17-47B0-BAC6-BBEFDDC51975&filename=2008AR.pdf (accessed July 28, 2009).

  According to conservative EPA figures . . . “Animal Waste Disposal Issues,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, May 22, 2009, http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/1997/hogchpl.htm (accessed July 27, 2009).

  in Smithfield’s case, the number . . . According to a study by David Pimentel, which cites the USDA’s 2004 figures, each hog produces 1,230 kg (2,712 pounds) of waste per year. So Smithfield’s 31 million hogs produced roughly 84 billion pounds of waste in 2008. With the US population estimated at 299 million, that amounts to 281 pounds of shit produced for every American. D. Pimentel and others, “Reducing Energy Inputs in the US Food System,” Human Ecology 36, no. 4 (2008): 459–471.

  That means that Smithfield — a single legal entity . . . Calculated based on 2008 US census and “Animal Waste Disposal Issues.”

  “the waste nurses more than 100 . . .” Jeff Tietz, “Boss Hog,” Rolling Stone, July 8, 2008, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/21727641/boss_hog/ (accessed July 27, 2009).

  children raised on . . . Francis Thicke, “CAFOs crate toxic waste byproducts,” Ottumwa.com, March 23, 2009, http://www.ottumwa.com/ archivesearch/local_story_082235355.html (accessed July 27, 2009).

  This includes but is not limited to . . . Tietz, “Boss Hog.”

  176 The impression the pig industry . . . Jennifer Lee, “Neighbors of Vast Hog Farms Say Foul Air Endangers Their Health,” New York Times, May 11, 2003; Tietz, “Boss Hog.”

  177 At one point, three factory farms . . . Tietz, “Boss Hog.”

  120,000 square feet . . . Ibid. The comparison with a casino floor is my own — the Luxor and Venetian boast 120,000-square-foot casinos.

  177 a single slaughterhouse . . . Ibid.

  Just as you would die of asphyxiation . . . Thicke, “CAFOs crate toxic waste byproducts.”

  A worker in Michigan . . . Tietz, “Boss Hog.”

  178 In the rare cases . . . “Overview,” North Carolina in the Global Economy, August 23, 2007, http://www.soc.duke.edu/NC_GlobalEconomy/hog/overview.shtml (accessed July 27, 2009); Rob Schofield, “A Corporation Running Amok,” NC Policy Watch, April 26, 2008, http://www .ncpolicywatch.com/cms/2008/04/26/a-corporation-running-amok/ (accessed July 27, 2009).

  Smithfield spilled more than 20 million . . . “Animal Waste Disposal Issues.”

  The spill remains the largest . . . Ibid.

  The spill released enough liquid . . . http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.com; “Animal Waste Disposal Issues.”

  Smithfield was penalized . . . “The RapSheet on Animal Factories,” Sierra Club, August 2002, 14, http://www.midwestadvocates .org/archive/dvorakbeef/rapsheet.pdf (accessed July 27, 2009); Ellen Nakashima, “Court Fines Smithfield $12.6 Million,” Washington Post, August 9, 1997, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/13400463.html?dids=13400463:13400463&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Aug+9%2C+1997&author=Ellen+Nakashima&pub =The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=A.01&desc=Court +Fines+Smithfield+%2412.6+Million%3B+Va.+Firm+Is+Assessed+Largest+Such+Pollution+Penalty+in+U.S.+History.

  179 At the time, $12.6 million . . . “The RapSheet on Animal Factories.”

  a pathetically small amount . . . Calculation based on 2009 sales of $12.5 billion. “Smithfield Foods Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results,” PR Newswire, June 16, 2009, http://investors.smith fieldfoods.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=389871 (accessed July 14, 2009).

  Smithfield’s former CEO Joseph Luter . . . Compensation Resources, Inc., 2009, http://www.compensationresources.com/press-room/ceo-s -fat-checks-belie-troubled-times.php (accessed July 28, 2009).

  Smithfield is so large . . . Tietz, “Boss Hog.”

  chicken, hog, and cattle excrement . . . In addition to river pollution, factory farms have contaminated groundwater in seventeen states. Sierra Club, “Clean Water and Factory Farms,” http://www.sierraclub .org/factoryfarms/ (August 19, 2009).

  179 two hundred fish kills . . . Merritt Frey et al., “Spills and Kills: Manure Pollution and America’s Livestock Feedlots,” Clean Water Network, Izaak Walton League of America and Natural Resources Defense Council, August 2000, 1, as cited in Sierra Club, “Clean Water: That Stinks,” http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanwater/that_stinks (August 19, 2009).

  if set head to tail fin . . . This assumes each fish is approximately six inches long.

  180 sore throats, headaches . . .“An HSUS Report: The Impact of Industrial Animal Agriculture on Rural Communities,” http://www.hsus .org/web-files/PDF/farm/hsus-the-impact-of-industrialized-animal -agriculture-on-rural-communities.pdf (accessed August 19, 2009).

  “Studies have shown that . . . ” “Confined Animal Facilities in California,” California State Senate, November 2004, http://sor .govoffice3.com/vertical/Sites/%7B3BDD1595-792B-4D20-8D44 -626EF05648C7%7D/uploads/%7BD51DlD55-lBlF-4268-80CC -C636EE939A06%7D.PDF (accessed July 28, 2009).

  There are even some good reasons. . . . Nicholas Kristof, “Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health,” New York Times, March 11, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1250701592-DDwvJ/Oilp86iJ6xqYVYLQ (accessed August 18, 2009).

  The American Public Health Association . . . “Policy Statement Database: Precautionary Moratorium on New Concentrated Animal Feed Operations,” American Public Health Association, November 18, 2003, www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=1243 (accessed July 26, 2009).

  the Pew Commission recently . . . Pew Charitable Trusts, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Pew Commission on Industrial Animal Production, “Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America,” 2008, 84, http://www.ncifap .org/_images/PCIFAP Final Release PCIFAP.pdf (accessed June 18, 2008).

  181 Smithfield has now spread . . . Romania: D. Carvajal and S. Castle, “A U.S. Hog Giant Transforms Eastern Europe,” New York Times, May 5, 2009, http://www.nytimes.
com/2009/05/06/business/global/ 06smithfield.html (accessed July 27, 2009).

  181 Joseph Luter III’s stock . . . “Joseph W. Luter III,” Forbes.com, http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/12/UQDU.html (accessed July 27, 2009).

  His last name is pronounced . . . Personal phone message. He never called back and could never be reached after leaving me a message.

  Undercover investigations . . . I am not aware of a single factory farm or industrial slaughterhouse in the nation that has agreed to disclose without restriction information obtained from ongoing, unannounced, and independent welfare audits.

  182 workers sawed off pigs’ legs . . . This was documented by PETA investigators. See: “Belcross Farms Investigation,” GoVeg.com, http://www .goveg.com/belcross.asp (accessed July 27, 2009).

  employees were videotaped . . . This was documented by PETA investigators. See: “Seaboard Farms Investigation,” GoVeg.com, http://www .goveg.com/seaboard.asp (accessed July 27, 2009).

  managers condoned these abuses . . . “Attorney General Asked to Prosecute Rosebud Hog Factory Operators,” Humane Farming Association (HFA), http://hfa.org/campaigns/rosebud.html (accessed July 17, 2009).

  An investigation at one . . . This was documented by PETA investigators. See: “Tyson Workers Torturing Birds, Urinating on Slaughter Line,” PETA, http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/tortured_by_tyson (accessed July 27, 2009).

  fully conscious chickens . . . This was documented by PETA investigators. See: “Thousands of Chickens Tortured by KFC Supplier,” Kentucky Fried Cruelty, PETA, http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty .com/u-pilgrimspride.asp (accessed July 27, 2009).

  Pilgrim’s Pride . . . Pilgrim’s Pride has since gone bankrupt. This is no victory. All it means is reduced competition and greater concentration of power as the other giant firms buy up Pilgrim’s Pride’s assets. Michael J. de la Merced, “Major Poultry Producer Files for Bankruptcy Protection,” New York Times, December 1, 2008, http://www .nytimes.com/2008/12/02/business/02pilgrim.html (accessed July 13, 2009).