Factory Farming Research Papers

In this world, the journey our food takes to our plate is often a story untold. Meat and dairy are considered an important part of the American diet. Though, many Americans maybe unaware of the process animals take to becoming packaged food. The meat and dairy industries operate off this unawareness to continue the practice of factory farming. Factory farming is a system of livestock used by big corporations to achieve cheap food production. The practice has succeeded because “99% of all animals eaten this country come from factory farms” (Foer 12). However, the large-scale operations exploit animals, deteriorate the environment, and put human health at risk to make the greatest profit. Theses “farms” operate like industrial factories using …show more content…
These unsanitary conditions have negative effects on human health. Factory workers overdose animals with antibiotics to offset illness and this has led to humans acquiring antibiotic resistant bacteria. For example, “when the FDA approved fluoroquinolones for use in chickens…the percentage of bacterial resistant to this….class of antibiotics rose from almost zero to 18 percent” (Foer 136). The increased level of antibiotic resistance can lead to humans having immunity to bacterial infections, which can result in serious illness or even death. Besides antibiotics, farm animals are given an excess of hormones to stimulate their growth. These growth hormones put humans at increased risk for cancer. For instance, “the six growth hormones commonly used by the U.S. dairy industry have been shown to significantly increase the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer in beef consumers” (farmsantary.org). There is also the present danger of cross contamination with fecal matter that can cause food borne illness. In fact, there are a minimum of 40 diseases “that can be transferred from farm-animal waste to humans” (Solotaroff). The threat of food borne illness is so apparent that “the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Agriculture estimate that infected eggs may cause approximately 180,000 cases of Salmonella infection in the United States per year” …show more content…
Factory farming is inefficient practice, the output (food) is much smaller than the input (feed). For instance, it takes about seven pounds of feed to make just one pound of beef (Pluhar 459). Not only that but the system abuses workers’ rights and harms rural communities. The alternative to factory farming is sustainable farming or humane farming. Sustainable farming is the production of food using farming techniques that support animal welfare and protect the environment. The main difference between factory farming and sustainable is that sustainable farming is done with more consciousness for humans, animals, and the environment. Sustainable farming treats animals more humanely and makes their living situation more suitable to conditions that adhere to their lifestyle. This type farming focuses on small farms that allow crops to be grown organically. The EU has already taken shifted their public publicly to support sustainable farming (Plunhar 462). The US can begin to make this shift but government assistance is needed to make sustainable farming a reality in America. For starters, there needs to be stricter enforcement of environmental laws and government regulations regarding agriculture business. Now there is little to no oversight to the conditions to factory farms and there is no federal law regarding human standards for farm animals. The Animal Welfare Act excludes