1
What food safety issues are associated with meat products like beef? How does affluence affect diet and health?
INFOGRAPHICS 30.1 AND 30.2
What is the most common cause of E. coli 157 contamination of meat like beef or pork?
Poor hygiene at the slaughterhouse that causes the meat to be contaminated with animal feces
Poor-quality feed given to the animals before slaughter
The overabundance of antibiotics in animal feed
Poor handling techniques at the individual grocery store that sells the meat
A
In general, as nations become wealthier, what trend is observed regarding meat consumption?
It declines because people are more educated and understand the health problems associated with eating meat.
It remains unchanged because cultural norms, not wealth, dictate diet.
It rises at first and then drops off sharply as people shift to more expensive foods like fish and fresh produce.
It increases because meat is seen as a desired part of the diet.
D
What is the evidence that red meat consumption has negative effects on our health? Design a study that would allow you to test the following hypothesis: Red meat consumption increases one’s risk for heart disease.
There is a positive correlation between the consumption of red meat and mortality; as consumption of red meat goes up, the risk of dying goes up relative to those who eat no red meat.
There are a variety of ways to test this hypothesis. One possibility: researchers would follow a large number of people for several years, tracking both red meat consumption and rates of heart disease. This hypothesis predicts that rates of heart disease and cancer will be lower in groups that consume less red meat. If this relationship is observed, the hypothesis gains support; if it is not observed (if there is no relationship or if the relationship is a negative correlation) then the hypothesis is refuted.
2
How are concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) used to rear animals for food, and what are the pros and cons of this method?
INFOGRAPHICS 30.3 AND 30.4
True or False: High use of antibiotics in livestock like cattle is desirable because it keeps the animals healthy.
FALSE
In CAFOs:
animals are grown slowly, grazing on open pasture.
animals are fed a liquid concentrate to speed growth.
animals are crowded together in enclosures and fattened quickly.
animals are exercised and fed constantly to encourage rapid growth.
C
Which of the following is one of the problems of CAFOs?
Fewer animals can be raised per acre of grazing land.
They contribute air and water pollution to the local area.
CAFOs are not as profitable as traditional ranching.
Penned animals are harder to monitor for health problems.
B
Do you think that the advantages of CAFOs outweigh the disadvantages? Explain.
Answers will vary but should be supported. Answers in support of CAFOs may give greater value to the quantity of affordable meat that can be produced in this manner, an important protein source for many people. Answers that do not support CAFOS might focus on ecological issues, ethical issues, or health issues (antibiotic overuse, health impacts of eating too much meat, cheap meat makes the often less-nutritious fast food more affordable than healthy food for those with limited incomes, etc.).
3
How can animals be sustainably reared? Will sustainable methods address the disadvantages of CAFOs and be as productive?
INFOGRAPHIC 30.5
Which of these is an advantage of raising cattle on pasture (that is, grass-fed beef) compared to rearing those animals in a CAFO?
Animals are healthier and gain weight faster.
Animals don’t gain weight faster but they do eventually grow larger, so there is more meat to harvest.
Meat from grass-fed cows is healthier for us to eat.
These animals eat and drink less than CAFO animals.
C
Rearing cattle on pasture instead of in CAFOs means:
we won’t be able to raise as many animals as we do now with CAFOs.
the price of meat will go down due to lower costs of inputs.
we will no longer be able to productively use marginal grassland farmlands.
more land area will be used to grow grain crops to feed the animals.
A
Compare the trade-offs of rearing cattle in CAFOs versus rearing them on pasture. Which do you support? Explain.
Pros: CAFOs are very efficient at land use, concentrating the animals in a small space. This saves money on land, fencing, and the need for moving the animals to and from barns, pens, water and food sources, as well as rounding them up when it is time to slaughter them. Therefore it helps maintain biodiversity by not using large tracts of land for free-range cattle. It also prevents loss of calves from predators or other problems and inadvertent injuries to cattle from holes, getting caught in fences, getting out through a fence, and theft.
Cons: Free range cattle feed themselves; in a CAFO the feed must be purchased. The crowded conditions lead to ease of transmission of a variety of diseases, so the cattle must be constantly monitored. Many / most CAFOs add antibiotics to the feed to help minimize the number of infectious diseases. This leads to antibiotic traces in the animal, and in the animal waste which can end up in the water table, affecting potable water in the area. In addition the antibiotics lead to an increased emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Because they are trying to maximize profits, the animals are also fed rBGH, a bovine growth hormone, to speed up the animal’s growth and to increase the amount of milk given by dairy cattle. Cattle are fed a mixture of grain and meat proteins derived from some types of animals; the feed has high levels of carbohydrates and proteins compared to natural forage. Because their natural food is grasses, cow stomachs do not digest this food well. Many cattle become ill from the digestive problems caused by this unnatural diet. Huge amounts of waste are produced. This waste is difficult to dispose, and often contains antibiotics and hormones. It can infiltrate the local rivers or water table and cause serious problems for humans. The smell is a serious problem for local residents, decreasing property values and causing some people to fall ill. At present there are few good solutions to the huge amount of waste produced by CAFOs. There are also issues with the ethical treatment of animals.
4
How can agricultural policies address food supply and safety issues?
INFOGRAPHIC 30.6
Globally, what are the FAO’s livestock-rearing recommendations?
All nations should phase out the environmentally damaging CAFOs and bring back pasture-raised livestock.
The priorities for developed nations should be food safety issues and protecting farmers’ incomes.
Developing nations should focus on methods that increase food security and the income of small farmers.
Livestock rearing in general should be phased out in favor of plant-based food products.
C
The FAO recommends that all external costs of rearing livestock be internalized. What effect would this have?
Farmers who raise animals sustainably would have an advantage because they would have fewer external costs to internalize.
Environmental problems like water pollution would be eliminated.
The price of meat would decrease at the store because there would be fewer problems to be addressed (and paid for) by producers.
All of these are likely outcomes.
A
What is the U.S. Farm Bill, and how has it changed over time?
The Farm Bill was created in the 1930s to help farmers have a more stable future, helping them in times of environmental calamity and changing prices, provide storage programs for commodity crops and ensure that prices would not drop below costs. The bill is reworked every 5 years, and now favors large CAFOs and other factory farms over other, smaller operations. It includes subsidies for CAFO operators for feed, allowing routine use of antibiotics, and little regulation of wastewater treatment. Recently, the subsidies that allowed CAFO operators to pay less for grain than it cost to grow it have ended so CAFO operations now pay more for grain and the use of antibiotics in CAFO operations now requires a veterinary prescription.
5
What are the benefits of eating lower on the food chain or eating smaller servings of products from animals reared on grasslands?
INFOGRAPHIC 30.7
True or False: Eating meat (instead of grain) can represent a net gain for the human food supply when the animals are raised on land that will not support human crops.
TRUE
According to a study conducted in New York State, which of the following diets can support the most people with locally produced food?
A diet high in meat, low in fat, and moderate in plant-based foods
A low-fat diet that is completely plant based and contains no meat or dairy products
A diet that contains 25% to 30% fat and only a small amount of meat
A high-fat, meat-free diet
B
What is “eating lower on the food chain,” and how might it help address some of the problems related to raising animals for food?
Eating lower on the food chain means eating more foods from lower trophic levels — specifically more plant based food. Because animals do not convert all of the food they eat to usable food for us (they burn most of the calories in their food themselves) we could actually feed more people if we ate the plant based food directly rather than feeding it to animals and then eating the animals. This means less grain would have to be grown since we would be eating it directly instead of eating the animals that ate the grain. This would reduce the impact of raising that grain since less would have to be raised. It would also reduce the impact of rearing animals in close quarters of a CAFO (less air and water pollution). It is only when animals eat food we cannot eat (grass), grown on land that will not support crops that we can eat does the rearing of animals for food increase food supplies over what a plant based diet could do.