“Meat is Murder.” A common phrase used by radical vegetarian groups to capture people’s attention and entice them to learn more about their cause. They usually mean the murder of innocent animals but in recent years, this phrase has taken on a new meaning. Meat is murdering those who eat it and slowly killing, with its bacteria, high fat, and added chemicals and antibiotics. When people read The Jungle, they regard the horrors of the meat-packing industry as something form a far-away past, something that was fixed and done away with long ago. The truth is although conditions are thousands of times better than those of Sinclair’s Packingtown, meat is still contaminated. E-coli outbreaks in meat are still a major concern. The general population is under the ridiculous impression that mean comes from farm-grown, healthy animals. Most animals in this country come from horrible factory farms. These “farms” are packed full of animals, crammed into miniscule stalls or cages their entire lives. They are covered in their own waste and fed hormones and chemicals that make them grow to unnatural sizes and given antibiotics to make up for the filthy living conditions they endure . Animals are often killed cruelly in a painful way without anesthetics, and chickens can frequently be boiled alive. Cows are fed corn and other grains, because it is cheaper and easier than allowing them to graze on their natural food source, grasses. This causes the meat to be fattier and more marbled, which is less healthy than lean, grass-fed beef. Fatter meat increases to a higher rate of heart disease and ingesting the trace amounts of antibiotics lead to a slight resistance to them. Meat is unhealthy and unsanitary, and people who eat it are usually uninformed of the horrors of factory farming, and the disgusting condition of the modern meat industry. Meat production is also one the biggest contributors to pollution. All the fuel it takes to ship meat, the animal and chemical waste, and rainforests being torn down to raise cattle, leads to negative effects on the environment. Meat production in this country is controlled by just a few companies, leaving the health of most of the population in their hands. The meat industry in the modern United States is a shady business that lies to consumers by portraying traditional farms on their packages and proclaiming the so-called health benefits of eating meat. These claims are generally ludicrous because of the high fat content, added hormones and the potentially poisonous bacteria lurking in the meat, and do not show consumers what is really going on in slaughterhouses across the country.


This problem could be remedied with a simple solution: everyone should become vegetarian or vegan. This is, of course, not an entirely feasible solution right now. But even not eating meat for one or two days a week cuts down on meat consumption. People will always ask how not eating meat in changing anything. Not buying that package of ground beef in the supermarket is going to leave it there for the next customer. That package will not have to be replaced as quickly; this eventually leads straight to the manufacturers not having to produce as much when meat consumption is declining. New laws have to be passed concerning the safety of the food we eat. Also if animals are meant to be eaten, they should at least be raised and slaughtered in a human and cruelty-free way. People need to be aware of where their food comes from, and whether they would still eat it if they knew. The modern meat industry is murdering, both animals and the consumers that feed its success.