I watched Food Inc. for the first time in class last week and it was very eye-opening, to say the least. I’ve never had the thought of becoming a vegetarian or to cut out a lot of meat or to even just research where my meat was coming from but after watching the film I felt like I should start.  I’ve always been an advocate of meat and always thought vegetarianism was in some ways “lame” but after watching this film I’ve really changed my stance on it. I understand where vegetarians are coming from when they talk about animal cruelty and them being mistreated.  The way those animals were treated while being “grown” was pretty horrific and for the first time in my life actually made me feel in some way kind of bad for the animals. It changed my perspective on the meat industry entirely.

One thing that really stood out to me was the fact that there were four or five companies controlling the meat industry and it was also startling how they have such control over the farmers they get their meat from. These companies like Tyson or Smithfield treated their employees almost as bad as the animals. These “farms” that are more like factories have unsafe conditions that no one should have to work in.

Another big thing that stood out to me was the use of antibiotics on the animals in order to grow them quicker and bigger. This would cause the animals to grow quickly and in turn, their organs weren’t sustaining the same growth as their body and it caused them not to be able to walk right and in some cases, they couldn’t take more than a few steps which to me was really sad. These animals deserve to live in much better conditions and need to be treated like they are more than just ‘food’.

The other thing that really stood out to me (and grossed me out) was that one beef patty could have something like 200 strands of a different cow in it instead of one beef patty coming from one cow. That was just mind boggling to me. While I’m not going to go completely vegetarian (I love chicken), I think that I’m done with red meat. After watching this film I just don’t think I could ever eat a hamburger again. The thought of it grosses me out now.

I think that there needs to be a better way for the food industry to go about the way they grow their food. Farms don’t need to be factories. I’m really glad we got to watch this film, it was eye-opening, to say the least.

Just recently in class we watched a documentary called Food Inc. In this documentary, the workings of the food industry come to light. Watching this documentary as a vegetarian just starting out, I was horrified so much that tears were brought to them. The condition these animals live in is absolutely terrible, and I feel terrible that I spent 19 years of my life eating meat. The value of life is far too great for the cows, chickens, and pigs who are being shoved into tight quarters where all they know are the others surrounding them and the walls around them.

Many companies use the opportunity of a high demand and decide to get more bang for their buck. Pumping animals with antibiotics to make them have more meat is no way to go about this problem,  yet that’s exactly what they did. Now these animals are so large that they can’t even carry themselves. In the movie, it shows scenes of cows trying to walk on broken ankles and chickens trying to stand but failing because of how heavy they are. And not only do these affect the animals, but also the people who eat them. The antibiotics being pumped into these animals can cause bacteria to form to resist them. This bacteria can be dangerous if meat isn’t cooked properly.  So you’d think that knowing the use of antibiotics in food decreases the quality of life for both animals and some humans would prevent people from being allowed to raise animals this way, but that sadly is not the case.

I believe that all living things have the right to a good and happy life. This is why I initially became vegetarian. After watching Food Inc. I realized that the reasonings behind stopping meat consumption runs way deeper. This isn’t just about how food production works in the meat packing industry. It’s about the fact that people know and understand and SEE what’s going on right in front of their faces, yet refuse to anything about it. These our the leaders of our country, people who have most say in what’s going into our grocery stores. They know people have died from E.coli contamination and have gotten sick from salmonella, but here we still are.

Veganism is one of the best ways to do your part in lessening your personal environmental impact. As I’m sure you already know, the meat/dairy industry has countless negative impacts on the environment through methane emissions, animal waste runoff, excessive water usage, and deforestation for grazing lands. By sticking to a plant based diet, not only do you decrease your “footprint”, but your physical health may improve and you can have a guilt-free conscience.

In order to successfully be a vegan, it is very important to know what foods you can eat in order to get the full amount of nutrition that your body needs, otherwise you may develop nutrient deficiencies. In terms of protein, any form of whole grain combined with a legume equals a complete protein. This includes black beans and brown rice, toast and peanut butter, bread with bean soup, lentils and barley… the possibilities are endless. Other high protein foods include nuts, dark leafy greens and broccoli. There are several processed foods that serve as high-protein meat alternatives and these include tempeh (fermented soy and rice product), tofu, seitan (high protein wheat gluten) and soy. If you are trying to avoid soy, seitan is the way to go- it’s delicious, and mimics the texture and flavor of meat when prepared correctly.

Calcium can be easily obtained through nut milks such as almond milk, coconut milk, and cashew milk! You should also take B vitamin supplements to ensure that you’re getting enough, as it can be difficult with a vegan diet. Iron is plentiful in spinach, tomato, and lentils in particular, as well as legumes, grains and dark green vegetables.

So, if this class makes you more interesting in pursuing a more environmentally-friendly life, veganism may be for you! If you decide to make the switch, don’t put your health at risk by being uninformed! If you know what nutrients you need and where to get them, you can live a healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

Lots of large corporations such as Tyson or Hormel, recently have started labeling their food to try to entice a different consumer to their product. The consumer they are trying to attract is one that is health-oriented. These corporations are attempting to sell their factory farm meat, which contains GMO’s and antibiotics as “organic” ,”all natural” or even “wholesome”. The problem with this type of greenwashing is that it actually doesn’t entice the health-oriented and health- knowledgeable consumer, but rather the consumer that is not health-oriented who thinks they are starting to better their health due to insufficient, and misleading labeling.

These labels can be very misleading because these companies are selling their product, as the total opposite of what they really are. This is such a scary thought to think that companies are allowed to promote and label their products such a way. The USDA has many standards and regulations to labeling products. But with all the standards still set in place, companies like these still figure a way to manipulate the wording and labeling in order to promote the meat as something it is not. This stands as a strong indicator to the fact that we never really know what we are eating if it is coming out of package, or sadly even in a chain-wide super market where many of us do our weekly shopping. One way to limit this is to stop buying from these locations and to start buying and promoting local meats.

Even large companies such as Burger King or McDonald’s have started to greenwash their meats being advertised within their meals as “healthy” or even “wholesome”. There needs to be more policies set in place by the USDA that limit this amount of corrupt, widespread greenwashing. Greenwashing through meats just keeps on taking money from their loyal consumers, and lying to these same people without even any concern for their actions, all while these same people think they are bettering their health by eating a product that is “organic” or “natural”. Shop local! Boycott large meat corporations that think it is okay to lie to the public eye!