By Dr. Mercola
"Food" is a 30-minute documentary that investigates how
demand for more and cheaper food has dramatically altered the
entire food chain. Today, food production revolves around
efficiency—the ability to produce more for less. The
ramifications of this mindset are wide-ranging and
far-reaching...
As KPBS’ Joanne Faryon reports, “the food chain no longer
looks like it used to.” Fish no longer eat other fish, and
cattle eat very little grass, which is their natural food
source. Instead, cattle eat corn, chickens eat corn and fish,
and fish eat cows and poultry... Similarly, fresh produce like
fruits and vegetables are primarily sold to foreign markets.
California oranges, for example, are exported to far flung
places like Japan, while Americans eat oranges from
Australia—presumably because Americans prefer the deeper orange
color of Australian oranges, and the fact that they’re easier to
peel. As a result, the carbon footprint of most foods sold in
your local grocery store is massive, having made its way
thousands of miles from where it was grown.
The Beef About American Cattle Farming
While food prices appear to be on the rise, we actually spend
less on our food today than we did a generation ago, thanks to
modern food production practices. The ultimate price, however,
may be greater than anyone ever expected.
For starters, modern agricultural practices are taking a
heavy toll on soil and environmental health, and the way we
raise animal foods, especially in the US, results in animal
products that are far inferior compared to their ancestral past.
The practice of raising animals in confined feeding
operations (CAFOs) is also having a major
detrimental impact on our environment and is a primary
source of environmental pollution and rising carbon dioxide
levels in the atmosphere.
Last year, 63 million tons of beef was produced worldwide.1
As stated in the film, while making up only five percent of the
world’s population, Americans consume nearly 20 percent of all
the beef produced globally.
But just how is all this beef produced? The film
summarizes how the typical cow makes its way from birth to
slaughter in the US. A generation or so ago, cattle would be
mostly pasture-raised and sold for slaughter around the age of
two or three. The meat would then be taken to the local market.
Today, California cows start out being raised on pasture for
about six months before being sold, typically changing hands
twice, before ending up in a CAFO feedlot. Feedlots, which were
introduced after World War II, are large pens that house tens of
thousands of cattle—some can hold herds up to 100,000 animals.
Here, they’re fattened up on a corn-based diet before being
slaughtered about four or five months later. All in all, today’s
beef is grown in about half the time compared to a generation
ago.
Besides corn, virtually all beef sold in American grocery
stores comes from cattle injected with hormones. Corn fattens
the cattle, but consumers don’t like all that gristly fat, so
hormones are used to make the animal produce more lean muscle
tissue. This improves profits, as it increases the animals’
growth by about 10 percent.
Ironically, as Faryon points out, it’s the corn that makes
the cattle fat, so if we didn’t feed them corn, we wouldn’t have
to give them hormones to minimize fat production. Another
question well worth pondering is this: with all this
hormone-laced beef, along with the American corn-based processed
food diet (think high fructose corn syrup), is it any surprise
Americans are growing fatter, faster, as well?
Farmed Fish—Feedlots of the Sea...
Industrial fish farming, or aquaculture, is the fastest
growing form of food production in the world.2
About half of the world’s seafood now comes from
fish farms, including in the US, and this is expected to
increase. At first glance, farmed fish may seem like a good idea
to help protect wild seafood populations from overfishing while
meeting the nutritional needs of an ever-expanding global
population.
In reality, however, the industry is plagued with many of the
same problems surrounding land-based CAFOs, including pollution,
disease and inferior nutritional quality. It’s getting so bad
that fish farms can easily be described as “CAFOs of the sea.”
Here we see an even greater distortion of the food chain. Wild
fish eat other fish, but farmed fish can be fed a concoction of
ingredients they’d NEVER encounter otherwise, such as soy
protein and beef or chicken byproducts, including cattle blood,
bone, and chicken feathers.
The reason for this is because, as explained by Jeffrey
Graham in the film, it takes about five pounds of fish to
produce one pound of growth in salmon. This clearly negates the
original rationale for fish farming, which is to prevent the
depletion of natural fish stocks. The solution is to replace the
fish meal in the diet with soy protein and other protein
products...The question is, is this really a healthy solution?
Europe has banned processing byproducts from cattle due to
the potential risk of spreading mad cow disease (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE), a neurodegenerative disease
that can affect humans eating contaminated beef. While there
have been no reports of humans contracting mad cow from eating
farmed fish, the theoretical possibility is there. Besides that,
it seems clear that a fish that eats meat byproducts opposed to
its natural diet of other fish is not going to have the
same nutritional makeup as wild fish.
Then there’s the increased risk of fish diseases spreading to
wild fish. The close quarters where farmed fish are raised
(combined with their unnatural diets) means disease can spread
quickly, and because farmed fish are often raised in pens in the
ocean, pathogens can spread like wildfire and contaminate any
wild fish swimming past. I wrote about this last summer in the
article “Salmon
Confidential.”
The Unsavory Truth About Factory Farmed Chicken
Large commercial chicken facilities typically house tens of
thousands of hens and can even go up to hundreds of thousands of
hens who, yet again, are fed a diet consisting primarily of
corn. Processing byproducts such as chicken feathers can also be
added to the feed. Antibiotics are routinely used in most
facilities, but hormones are not permitted in American-raised
chickens. When it comes to
labels such as “free-range” and “natural,” it’s buyer
beware...
The definitions of "free-range" are such that the commercial
egg industry can run industrial farm egg laying facilities and
still call them "free-range" eggs, despite the fact that the
birds' foraging conditions are far from what you'd call natural.
True
free-range eggs are from hens that roam freely outdoors on a
pasture where they can forage for their natural diet, which
includes seeds, green plants, insects, and worms.
When you’re housing tens of thousands of chickens, you
clearly cannot allow them all to freely roam and scavenge for
food outdoors. At best, CAFO hens may be let out into a barren
outdoor lot for mere minutes a day. Your best source for
pastured chicken (and fresh eggs) is a local farmer that allows
his hens to forage freely outdoors. If you live in an urban
area, visiting a local farmer’s market is typically the quickest
route to finding high-quality chicken and eggs.
Can We Grow a Fair and Sustainable Food System?
Many believe the answer to world hunger is further expansion
of large-scale agriculture; others place their bets on
genetically engineered (GE) crops. But are factory farms and
large-scale
GE farming really going to solve the problem? Evidence
suggests the answer is a resounding NO. In fact, our modern
agricultural system is the very heart of the problem...
Modern monoculture has severely depleted soils of essential
nutrients and microorganisms, and poor soil quality is a core
problem facing farmers across the globe.
Monoculture (or
monocropping) is defined as the high-yield agricultural
practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same
land, in the absence of rotation through other crops. (Corn,
soybeans, wheat, and to some degree rice, are the most common
crops grown with monocropping techniques. As discussed above,
corn and soy are two of the primary ingredients in feed given to
livestock, be they chickens, cattle or fish.)
The Earth's soil is now depleting at more than 13 percent the
rate it can be replaced due to our chemical-based agriculture
system. Massive monoculture has also led to the extinction of 75
percent of the world's crop varieties over the last century.
Additionally, modern agriculture is extremely energy dependent.
It is estimated that every consumer in the Western world eats
the equivalent of 66 barrels of oil per year. That's how much
oil is needed to produce the food on your plate.
Do You Really Want to Eat Factory Farmed Animals?
If you were to grow food for you own family, my guess is that
you would do so with extreme care, using the best seeds, the
healthiest animals, and the least amount of chemical additives.
Yet, when most people buy their food, they have no idea where it
actually comes from, and conversely the people who grow this
food have no idea who ends up eating it. When people are able to
grow food for the faceless masses, I think it somehow justifies
these terrible practices that have become commonplace: pumping
animals full of hormones and drugs, dousing vegetables with
chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and introducing genetically
modified seeds into the environment.
If you had to see the animal you were about to eat before it
makes its way to the supermarket or your dinner table, would you
choose one that had lived out its days in a filthy, crowded
cage? One that had been mutilated and tormented, then pumped
full of hormones and antibiotics, while being fed
pesticide-laden grains it was not designed to eat?
Or would you choose one that had lived a nurtured and well
cared for life, free to roam on pasture, see the sunlight and
breathe in fresh air? One that was fed its natural diet and
nothing more? The choice is obvious, which is exactly why
agri-business has done such a masterful job of concealing what
really goes on from the vast majority of Americans. All you see
is a cellophane-wrapped package, maybe a picture of a barn with
happy cows and chickens standing near. In many cases, if you
could really see how that animal was raised, you would likely
shield your children’s eyes, then turn away in disgust.
Factory farms allow us to be removed from taking personal
responsibility for raising our own food. There is no one to be
held accountable for raising garbage food or treating animals
inhumanely because the system has taken on a life of its own. By
far, the vast majority of food at your local supermarket comes
from these polluting, inhumane farm conglomerations. So if you
want to stop supporting them, you first need to find a new place
to shop.
Become Part of a Growing Movement
Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to find a humane and
reliable source for your food -- sources that are growing food
with the health of the environment and the animals as the
driving forces. At
LocalHarvest.org, for instance, you can enter your zip code
and find farmers' markets, family farms, and other sources of
sustainably grown food in your area, all with the click of a
button. For an excellent list of sustainable agricultural groups
in your area, please also see
Promoting Sustainable Agriculture -- this page is filled
with resources for high-quality produce and meats in your area.
The more we all make it a point to only buy food from a
source we know and trust, the faster factory farming will become
a shameful practice of the past. Farmers and lovers of real food
show us that change IS possible. But your involvement is
required. Here are a few suggestions for how you can take
affirmative action:
- Buy local products whenever possible. Otherwise, buy
organic and fair-trade products.
- Shop at your local farmers market, join a CSA (Community
Supported Agriculture), or buy from local grocers and co-ops
committed to selling local foods.
- Support restaurants and food vendors that buy locally
produced food.
- Avoid genetically engineered (GMO) foods. Buying
certified organic ensures your food is non-GM.
- Cook, can, ferment, dry, and freeze. Return to the
basics of cooking, and pass these skills on to your
children.
-
Grow your own garden, or volunteer at a community
garden. Teach your children how to garden and where their
food comes from.
- Volunteer and/or financially support an organization
committed to promoting a sustainable food system.
- Get involved in your community. Influence what your
child eats by engaging the school board. Effect city
policies by learning about zoning and attending city council
meetings. Learn about the federal policies that affect your
food choice, and let your congressperson know what you
think.
- Spread the word! Share this article with your friends,
family, and everyone else you know.
© Copyright 1997-2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.