The Corruption of Information

This time last week Americans were busy planning menus, researching recipes, polishing the good silver, and picking up all of the canned cranberry sauce they could get their hands on. Chefs young and old were also focus on Thanksgiving’s center piece – the Turkey. Though the focus of Thanksgiving, many do not think about the business of getting their food on the table and where that Turkey came from.

The truth is that Thanksgiving is big business. And that that business is somewhat disturbing.

Big business has taken over the agricultural industry as factory farming has become the standard of the modern age. Raised in half the time to be double the size, animals are pumped full of growth hormones to the point that the modern chicken can neither walk nor fly. Because Americans prefer to eat white meat the fowl’s breast have been engineered to be unnaturally large. It is too breast heavy and is only able to walk a few steps before falling forward. This results in bed sores all over their bodies from having to lie in one place.

Not that their inability to walk matters much. Chickens and turkeys who are raised on industrial farms are so tightly packed together that each bird has a space the size of a standard piece of paper to live on. This is not enough room to even spread their wings. At the same time, a bird raised for slaughter will never see the light of day as the new coop styles have no windows.

The ability for the agricultural industries to have created such a level of disconnect between consumers and the food industry is due in large part to the control and corruption of information. Just as the railroad industry was able to control information a century earlier, the food industry has pursued the same tactics to increase their power.

There is a form of insider trading when it comes to the food industry. The governmental bodies which are meant to protect the interests of the American people are really just the stomping grounds of the former agricultural execs. Both the Bush and Clinton administrations saw the appointment of former and current board members for high powered agricultural businesses, such as Monsanto, to offices of the FDA and EPA – the organizations meant to regulate those very industries. For example, Margaret Miller, former chemical laboratory supervisor for Monsanto, was appointed Deputy Director of the FDA for the Clinton administration. The regulatory power of these governmental organizations is increasingly toothless.

At the same time as the food lobby cozies up to politicians, laws are being created which help business and not consumers. In 13 states it is against the law to publically call the sanitation and practices of the agricultural industry into question. With first amendment rights taken away through these ‘veggie libel’ laws in the most agriculturally dominate states – including Colorado, North Dakota, Texas, and Oklahoma – it is increasingly difficult to prosecute any wrong doing.  These veggie libel laws are perhaps best known for the court case in which the cattle industry sued Oprah Winfrey for her on air statement that she would not be eating beef any more after learning factory farm cows were being fed ground beef. In this way the food industry is controlling what the public is able to learn about the system by limiting the possibility for exposes and law suits.

This system of self regulation, connection to the political system, and the system being increasingly  dominated by a small group of corporations seems like something right out of the Gilded Age. A closed system with the public increasingly out of the loop combined with a tainted political process and lack of regulation is deplorable and something must be done for the inhumane and unhealthy products which we are buying off of our local grocers’ shelves. When left to their own devices we have seen that businesses will not act in the best interest of the consumer. Better business practices will not be obtained if they control the information.

Comments

[Dianne Foster]

Informative article Lindsey. I noted Mr Obama's turkey who received the pardon could not stand up. How pathetic. We all need to better understand the source of our food.

David and I almost never eat meat anymore except for chicken and fish. When we buy meat, I find 'free range' and/or grass fed meat, milk and eggs.

I discovered years ago how badly animals were treated in these farm factories, and I see from your blog, things have not changed. I comtemplated becoming a vegetarian, but I never completely made the shift.

My granddaughter Amelia became a vegetarian but I don't know if she is still doing it. She is majoring in Environmental Science at UVA, so I know where her heart is.

[Lindsey]

If you are interested here is a link to a website which points you in the direction of local farmers markets and organic/ cruelty free restaurants and grocers:

http://www.eatwellguide.org/search/advanced

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7800990]

I was unaware PETA would be posting on our class blog. Interesting.

First, the idea of a "free-range" chicken is a contradiction. Chickens in their natural habitat (barn-yards) do not "range". They stay within clucking distance of their coop. You don't hear about great herds of chickens "ranging" across the Eurasian Steppe or migrating from Sweden to Algeria every year. No. Chickens were domesticated EARLY in human history (~4000 BC) to be big, flightless, and stupid birds that a farmer could take eggs from and catch to eat. Also, have you ever seen what chickens eat? It's disgusting...you'd rather not know.

Second, free-range beef is almost as contradictory since most - with the exception of veal and milk cows - a raised on ranches or pastures anyway where they're free to "range". However, last time I drove to Winchester and observed the beef cows in the adjacent pastures they didn't look like they were doing much "ranging". They were mostly just standing, sitting, or chewing. Now I'll admit the idea of feeding cows ground beef is a little disgusting (and what led to Mad Cow), but it all turns into protein anyway. Cows naturally turn grass into protein too...just more slowly. I'm pretty sure they just feed them that stuff in the winter anyway - cows can't very well "range" in snow drifts. When they're home on the range, I'll bet they're mostly eating grass.

The idea of "organic" food in general really just reflects a latent arrogance. It's another way for wealthy and upper-middle class people to dispose of their excess income in order to display their status. David Brooks wrote in "Bobos in Paradise" that 21st century bourgeoisie-bohemians (Bobos) prefer to display their wealth through the purchase of high-end "essentials" like organic food or Viking ranges instead of through ostentatious displays of gold, diamonds, etc.

Finally, if you have "organic" food there must be "inorganic" food, right? This seems strange, since all food (with the exception of Taco Bell) is organic. In any case, the truth is that the "inorganic" food produced by agribusinesses has enabled the American lower and lower-middle classes to enjoy unprecedented access to food and by extension dignity. The availability of inexpensive turkeys allows families of less-than modest means to partake in one of America's greatest traditions. This allows them dignity before only accessible to wealthier families.

We should be proud that in America the poor are obese...I'm sure plenty of starving poor in Africa, India, or China would LOVE a factory-farmed Butterball turkey.

[Dianne Foster]

Chickens ----As a gal who grew up on a farm with chickens and has the photos to prove it, I can tell you they can be 'free range'. Free range to a chicken means not being caged all day, but allowed to hunt and peck at will. Our chickens wandered through a penned lot unless I let them loose, which I did daily and got my heinie whipped for doing it too.

My eggs come from a farm in Pennsylvania where the chickens are treated humanely. I won't go into all the specifics, but basically, they are allowed to cluck and peck and all of them have beaks.

Cattle and cows
Our cows lived in pastures, where they ate grass much of the year (Texas, South Carolina and Georgia).

You are correct, there are some 'free range' herds in the DC metro area, which now extends out to second tier counties. These cattle graze. My daughter and her husband have a farm out in Culpeper County where you can see animals humanely treated. (Their neighbor raises buffalo)

Organic is a generic word that covers certain kinds of farming. As you know a lot, you know there are exact definitions of what this means. The knowledgeable shopper looks for 'Oregon' Tilth or the CA dept of AG lables. The Bush administration watered down the definition during its tenure, but those of us who have shopped organically for a while know what and who to look for.

I don't like PETA and you don't have to be a PETA fan to be kind to animals.

[Lindsey]

Also the difference between a "free range" cow and a industrial farm cow is that the free range cow eats grass. A industrial farm cow is either fed corn or ground beef (shutter) which their bodies have not evolved to digest properly. This leads to bacterial build up within the cows' stomach. Here is a video of what the inside of a cow looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkhdGG5pVW8&feature=player_embedded

Its really interesting but not for the faint of heart, or stomach.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=7800990]

I'll admit that I didn't grow up on a farm and only know what I've picked up from more knowledgeable people I've talked to. So I'm probably not the best source.

Here's a link to an article by a guy who actually did grow up on a farm and seems to know what he's talking about. He makes some pretty good arguments too. For instance, 21st century business men don't use slide rules, so why do they expect farmers today to use 19th century (or older) farming methods?

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/july/the-omnivore2019s-delusion-against-the-agri-intellectuals/

[Lindsey]

Because it is cleaner, more humane, and the right thing to do. It is also possible to have better standards while simultaneously feeding the same amount of people. Also, it wouldn't require changes back to the 19th Century, it would require changes to just a few decades ago when there was more competition, more sanitation, and no factory farms.

[HeipsNit]

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