Controversial Topics For An Essay On Commercial Food Production

Commercial Food Production Essay The question of whether humans should eat meat is a controversial subject that most everyone has an opinion about. To prepare for this essay I watched, Paul McCartney on Slaughterhouses and Earthlings; 101 Reasons to be Vegan, I also chose to watch a third video entitled, A Video Tour of a Beef Plant Featuring Temple Grandin. All three videos shed light on the meat producing industry in different ways. Analyzing the content of these videos helps gain knowledge of the treatment of animals and how they are processed for human consumption. Paul McCartney begins his video with the statement “If slaughterhouses had glass wall we’d all be vegetarians.” The videos show disturbing images of mistreated

Jim begins his lecture with an analogy comparing strawberries and baby pigs. He makes the assertion that we can’t compare the two so we shouldn’t treat them same, i.e. eat them. He questions why it is ok to eat pigs but not puppies and claims that it has to do with culture. He goes on to say that the only reason we eat meat at all is due to culture and that we need to question our culture to determine if eating something that was alive and had feelings is an immoral thing to do. He makes the point that all animals have feelings, stating that if you hold your hand over a candle flame it will burn and you will scream and pull away. A pig, a cow, or a puppy will do the same thing if their paws are held over a candle flame. He discussed how milk producers induce stress on cows in order for them to continuously be able to produce milk. He contrasted humans to animals, explaining how they are different and how some animals are natural carnivores while humans are not. He showed the difference in the animal’s jaws and digestive system to make his point. James concluded his presentation with a touching video entitled Maxine’s Dash for Freedom about a cow who escaped in Manhattan and was rescued by a pet rescue and eventually sent to

According to the video, Grandin is a leading expert on humane livestock treatment and has a doctorate in animal behavior. Due to Grandin’s autism she has a unique ability to understand how animals feel. This allows her to teach others how to humanely treat livestock. Grandin helped in the production of the video in order to dispel misinformation that is put on the internet via underground videos made by misinformed people. She claims that cattle are handled humanely not only because it is more humane but it is more profitable for the meat producers. Cows put under undue stress results in tougher meat and any meat that is bruised has to be cut away because it cannot be sold to consumers. She claims that pins are filled to only 75% capacity to allow the cattle room to move and also as a safety requirement for the workers. Modern processing plants have runs that mimic cattle’s movements in nature preventing stress and injury. When cattle are slaughtered, a pneumatic gun is used that shoots a bolt into the brain of the cow, killing it instantly. Grandin states that the underground videos available on the internet that show the cows flopping around after they have been shot is showing uncoordinated muscle reflexes that are caused by abrupt scrambling of the nervous system upon death. She states that livestock yards and slaughterhouses are inspected regularly and governed by The