Most of the approximately 250 million turkeys eaten by Americans annually are raised in large factory farms. When the turkeys get bird flu, the companies are bailed out by the U.S. government. Hormel Foods, the nation’s largest turkey producer, received over $100 million to pay for infected turkeys. Why we have to pay that is unclear to me. Can’t the company get insurance?
Since most Americans like white meat, the turkeys are specially bred. As they mature in their indoor factory sheds, they soon lose the ability to walk. These “broad-breasted whites” are ready for killing in as little as three months. Their leg bones are too immature to carry their weight. They end up sitting on the floor litter, which is full of manure.
I’d tell you to eat chicken, but many of the chickens in supermarkets today are also bred to have large breasts and are unable to walk by the time they are slaughtered.
One thing you might do if you insist on eating meat on Thanksgiving is to go to a local butcher you know who processes chickens or turkeys raised the old fashioned way.
Some material in this post is from Peter Singer, “What a Lame-Duck President Could Do for Lame Turkeys,” New York Times, (Nov. 24, 2024), p. 6 SR. Dr. Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton.
No comments:
Post a Comment