Compassionate Kitchens

Compassionate Kitchens

Clarity comes to us all the time. Clarity can be subtle where everyday living provides us with insight. Other times, the "cosmic 2 x 4" smacks over the head, allowing a situation to shed some major light. Either way, our individual paths are molded by these moments of clarity.

As individuals, these moments of clarity come to us differently and at different times in our life. Since clarity comes to us in our own special way, it is only appropriate to share a personal experience. I start by saying that this is my own moment of truth and it is not important whether or not you can understand this experience. However, I do hope that within this personal story, you can find a source of information in which to process.

This past July I traveled to Johnston, PA for a Vegetarian Summerfest held by the North American Vegetarian Society. Not much thought was given about it. I was simply thinking that it would be a weekend of fun, live food presentations and inspirational speakers, however, the universe apparently had much more in store.

It was Saturday afternoon and I was seated in a college lecture room awaiting the debut of "Peaceable Kingdom," a documentary on American factory farming practices. As I was waiting, I read a quote, one that I had heard many times before, but for some reason, under these particular circumstances, the quote struck me,

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." Gandhi

By that standard, our fast food nation is "developing" Does it matter?

I took a deep breath and watched the movie. This is what I allowed myself to finally hear.

Farm animals, by the millions, are forced to live in cages or crates just barely larger than their own bodies. While some species, like hogs and veal calves, may be caged alone without any social contact, others, like egg-laying hens and chickens, may be crowded so tightly together that they fall prey to stress-induced cannibalism. Unable to groom, stretch their legs, or even turn around, the animals of factory farms exist in a constant state of distress. Now, if a private citizen confined a dog or cat in a manner commonly seen in factory farms, or subjected an animal to surgical procedures without anesthesia [no anesthesia is given to pigs when cutting off their tails to prevent them from biting each other under confined conditions], the individual would be charged with cruelty to animals. There are virtually no federal laws that protect farm animals from this type of treatment as long as it takes place in the name of production and profit. The federal Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the treatment of animals for commercial purposes, does not apply to farm animals unless they are being used in research or for exhibition. Moreover, a majority of states have specifically exempted some aspect of the treatment of animals in agriculture from their cruelty laws. It is left entirely to the preference of the individual company how many egg-laying hens are stuffed into each little wire cage, or whether an artificially inseminated sow must spend her entire pregnancy chained to the floor of a cement-bottomed cage.

Like some weird flashback, I heard a quote in my head,

"If I love animals called pets, why do I eat animals called dinner?"

I dismissed that thought because my argument was that in nature other animals eat other animals, plus what would we do with all these pigs, cows and chickens if we didn't eat them? The information kept coming.

Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D. When these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth. This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was combated in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using mechanization and assembly line techniques. Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals. Animals today raised on factory farms have often times had their genes manipulated, been induced with large doses of antibiotics and hormones, particularly in their feed, and given other chemicals to encourage high productivity. In the food industry, by these standards, it is clear that animals are not considered animals but food producing machines.

The answer to my previous questions presented itself. Yes, other animals eat other animals but never do they do it in such a manner as we do on OUR factory farms (we all own this). Have you ever seen lions caging zebras, manipulating them to produce more meat at an accelerated pace then ship them off to slaughter when the time was right? (Not a great example, but we get the point)?

OK, What about the environment and our small family farms? Is this really just about money?

Factory farms are quickly taking over the livestock industry. In the poultry industry, 98% of all poultry is now produced by corporations, forcing family farms out of business. Large farms receive nearly twice as much in government subsidies as small, family farms.

It just kept coming.

4 meatpacking companies control an estimated 79% of cattle slaughter. Since 1986 the number of independent hog operations has declined by 72% - a loss of over 247,500 farms.

One of the most dangerous practices of factory farming is the storage and "use" of liquefied animal waste. The USDA estimates that animals in the US meat industry produced 1.4 billion tons of waste in 1997 - 130 times the nation's volume of human waste and five tons of animal waste for every US citizen. The massive quantities of manure generated are stored in holes dug in the earth (referred to as "lagoons") and then spread onto cropland. These manure pits are known to leak or overflow, releasing toxic bacteria and excess nutrients into groundwater. Spreading waste on the ground leads to odor problems and water pollution when more manure is applied than the surrounding land can absorb. Manure at cattle feedlots can produce substantial amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, both potent greenhouse gases that could contribute to global warming. In 1995, 25 million gallons of animal waste spilled from an eight-acre "lagoon" into North Carolina's New River, killing 10 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shell fishing.

My next question during this emotional time, "Well, this is how meat production has to be due to a large population and the increased demand for meat. How else could they produce enough meat for everyone since on average each person consumes over 200 pounds of animal flesh each year?"

Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers and animals, and provides a fair wage to the farmer. Sounds too good to be true, but it is proving to be valid if implemented properly. In 1990, the US government defined sustainable agriculture in Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1683, as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term, satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.” (For more detailed information on the possibilities of this type of agriculture, check out www.sustainabletable.org)

Sustainable Agriculture looks like something to look into but still back to this factory farming. Really how bad is it? Yes, the animals appear to be suffering, but how does this affect my family and me?

In 1954, American farmers used about half a million pounds of antibiotics a year in raising food animals. Today, about half of the 50 million pounds of antibiotics produced in the US each year is used for animals, 80 percent of which is poured directly into feed to make animals grow faster. Widespread overuse of antibiotics is resulting in the evolution of new strains of virulent bacteria whose resistance to antibiotics poses a threat to human health.

Conditions on factory farms and in slaughterhouses are also responsible for a large proportion of food-borne illnesses reported in the US each year. Officials at the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have referred to the current situation with food-related disease as an "epidemic." Studies have found that nearly 80 percent of ground beef sampled - with a similar percentage of poultry sampled - contain microbes spread by animal feces. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), 81 million Americans become sick, and 9,000 die, from food-borne illness every year. The GAO sets the price tag for these illnesses and deaths at about $22 billion a year. People have also contracted Mad Cow Disease through eating the meat of infected animals. In humans the affliction is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) where no cure has been found and death ultimately results within 14 months. Presently it is reported that 150 people worldwide have contracted CJD, with speculation that many cases are misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's or Dementia. (For more information on Mad Cow Disease check out www.madcowboy.com) Honestly though, the full extent of the health ramifications of factory farming is not known entirely, however, nobody is really counting deaths from drug-resistant infections and a majority of food-borne illnesses go unreported.

I stood up from that movie viewing and there was my moment of clarity.

I have always known about our food supply, but it was not until the 100th time of hearing it that it resonated with me so passionately. I knew I no longer wanted to bring this type of cruelty into my kitchen. My eating habits were no longer motivated just by wanting to attain good health and vitality, but they were equally motivated by not wanting to support an industry that has no regard or compassion for the animals that spare their lives for us. Yes, I do not want to cause any undue harm to animals, but this industry is now directly affecting my life, my family and my environment, which makes it more and more my problem. I say this strongly but know that my will will be tested everyday as it has since the day I came back from that transformative trip. I do not stand or write before you a perfect example of an animal rights advocate or whatever. I know that there is still much more to learn, so I am sure that my hypocrisy will live on probably until the day I leave this earth plane. But each day the knowledge I gain is my power and the more I learn the more clear it is to me that this is not an industry that I wish to support.

We encourage you to come join us for a viewing of the Peaceable Kingdom at A Touch of Serenity on Thursday September 30, 2004 from 6:30 - 8:30 P.M. Let the movie be an opportunity for you to learn more about where your meat comes from. This will absolutely not be meat-eater bashing party, since I hold strong that it is natural for animals to eat other animals under natural conditions as our ancestors have. But we are here to be a source of information because I believe just as my clarity came to me, most people would take another glance at factory farming if they really saw what happens to our food before it is presented into tiny little packages that resemble nothing close to the animal that it came from.

--Janee Kuta-Iliano