Meat Consumption Research Paper

For the last few decades, meat consumption in the United States has increased dramatically and so did the rest of the world. On average, Americans consume at least 270 pounds per person a year, which is way more than almost other country on the planet (Barclay, 2012). In just a short period of time, our meat consumption today has triples if not quadruples the level of meat consumption in the 1900s. During World War I period, meat counters and farm owners were struggled to keep up with demands, which in return left Americans no choice but to pay above market prices for meat products (Barclay, 2012). This prompted scientists and meat-producing companies to try various new feeding methods to keep up with the demands and produce high quality meat …show more content…
So how exactly does antibiotic-resistant strain get transmitted to human? According to one of the study conducted recently, there are at least three mechanisms in which antibiotic-resistant strain can get transmitted to humans (Lipsitch, Singer & Levin, 2002, p.5753). Out of the all possible transmission methods, ingestion of bacteria from contaminated meat or water or through contact with livestock is one of the most prevalent one (Lipsitch, Singer & Levin, 2002, p.5753). Every day, Americans are consuming at least 0.36 pounds of meat, and that includes red meat, pork and poultry. Out of these meat products, they all consist some form of antibiotics and who knows what else is in there. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell if antibiotic-resistant strain is present in these meat products as they are being put on the shelves across America. As suggested in the documentary ‘’The Trouble with Antibiotics’’ by Frontline, people who are living close to animal feeding operations are more likely to be at risk for getting exposed to antibiotic resistant genes. Unfortunately, more animal feeding operations are being built throughout the countries, with some of these located relatively close to residential areas. The documentary also pointed out that when farm owners put the manure on the crop field, and it doesn’t rain for a month, it can easily go airborne if a big wind comes by. Even worse, when a big rainstorm comes by, all the manure that is loaded with undigested antibiotics can get washed off into the drainage, into the local streets and onto the neighbors’ lawns (Hoffman, Szulc, Young & Young, 2014). While it seems like an easy problem to solve, it is very hard to contain these undigested antibiotics from spreading. They could go into the air, the water system or stays in the soil for an indefinite time. Needless to say, it’s almost impossible to stop undigested antibiotics