Food Facts

-Half of all the antibiotics made in the U.S. each year are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in the humans who eat them.  The European Economic Committee finds it necessary to ban the routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock.  The U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries give it their full and complete support.   


-The U.S. alone uses one billion pounds of pesticides every year on our food.

-Chickens who are raised for their flesh are routinely given feed laced with Roxarsone, an additive that contains—are you ready for this—arsenic.  (Like antibiotics, arsenic is believed to speed growth and produce more meat to sell, quicker.)  The chicken industry insists that most of the arsenic is eliminated in the chickens' waste (tough luck for fish in nearby waterways), but a recent study conducted by the Utah Department of Health revealed that it is also excreted in chickens' eggs.

-Cattle are subject to third-degree branding burns and having their testicles and horns ripped out (without anesthetic).  Pigs also suffer from branding and castration, in addition to the mutilation of their ears, tails and teeth (without anesthetic).  They all live in the filth of their own urine, feces, and vomit with infected, festering sores, wounds, and broken bones.  To keep animals alive in these unsanitary conditions, farmers must give them regular doses of antibiotics.

-The primary source of salmonella, campylobacter, E. coli, and other foodborne pathogens on poultry and meat is animal feces.  Yep, there is probably poop in your hamburger.


-Farmed animals consume 70 percent of the corn, wheat, and other grains that we grow, and one-third of all the raw materials and fossil fuels used in the U.S. go to raising animals for food.

-America's meat addiction is poisoning and depleting our potable water, arable land, and clean air.

-Farmed animals produce about 130 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the United States, and since factory farms don't have sewage treatment systems as our cities and towns do, this concentrated slop ends up polluting our water, destroying our topsoil, and contaminating our air.

-2,200 calories of fossil fuel are required to produce a 12 oz. can of diet soda.  40 calories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 calorie of beef protein.  2.2 calories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 calorie of corn.  The next time you order a salad instead of a hamburger, pat your environmentalist self on the back!

-A typical quote from a slaughterhouse worker: "I personally have seen rotten meat- you can tell by the odor.  This rotten meat is mixed with the fresh meat and sold for baby food.  We are asked to mix it with the fresh food, and this is the way it is sold.  You can see the worms inside the meat."  Remember, profits before health.

-We are the only species on this planet that drinks milk as adults.  To top it off, we're consuming another species' milk!  The dairy industry is a multibillion-dollar industry based on brilliant marketing and the addictive taste of milk, butter, and cheese.  Studies reveal dairy actually leaches calcium from the body, and countries with the highest dairy intake have the highest incidence of osteoporosis.  Contrarily, countries with the lowest consumption of dairy have the lowest incidence of osteoporosis.  Milk for strong bones?  You've been punked.  Deal with it. 

-A dairy cow lives an average of 4 years (compared to the typical 20), and spends most of her exhausting life bellowing for her offspring. The baby she pines for has been taken away to be confined in a dark stall where he can barely move, never to see sunlight or feel grass below his feet.  This miserable existence is justified because people like to eat veal at fancy restaurants.  Oh, and remember his mom?  The 4 year dairy cow?  Once she collapses from exhaustion, her diseased body will become fast food meat.  

-Animals bred for food are remarkably similar to household pets.  Pigs are actually quite similar to dogs, even being considered more intelligent.  Cows nurture friendships and bear grudges.  Chickens are as smart as mammals, and display a love for television and music.  All of these animals experience fear, grief, and rage.  Just something to think about.