Meet your Meat - First draft of my essay for school

Meet Your Meat

Buying that shrink-wrapped package of chicken for dinner, do you ever think about what is behind the label? You see the image on the label of a farmer standing in front of a big, red barn with green grass surrounding the farm. The picket fence finishes off the whole pleasant image. But, the real truth is so far from that; if you know what the reality was you might not eat it. That “meat” that you put in the shopping cart isn’t exactly meat. It’s more chicken hormones than anything else.

Think about eating straight chicken hormones. You probably wouldn’t. But when they’re hidden in a juicy piece of chicken, you would without knowing it. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. You should know what you are eating, especially when so much harmful junk is included.

These so-called farms where the chickens are grown aren’t farms at all. They are factories. The animals aren’t treated like animals; they are treated like machines. The conditions are barely livable. In the meat farms, chickens die from the most absurd and ridiculous things. But they can be prevented. Sometimes chickens even die because they can’t reach feed because there are so many chickens crowded together. Sometimes chickens die because they grow so fast, and their organs can’t keep up with their fast growing bodies so they die of organ failure. If these were conditions were for humans something would be changed. But because these are chickens no one really cares; so nothing is done.

The egg business is almost as bad if not worse. Since only the hens lay eggs, the boys are thrown away or ground of and fed to their sisters. Some are actually put in a large plastic bag and emptied into dumpsters. Some investigators found a dumpster full of baby boy chicks behind a factory farm. Isn’t this madness? No, this is the reality.
Real farming is nearly vanished from the U.S. When you buy the chicken it looks great but the truth is it isn’t, and it was likely raised in cruelty and contains lots of hormones. Only a small percent of eggs even come from local farms anymore. Most of them are produced on the factory farms.
There are many ways to end this. The first step is to be more aware of the food you are eating- what is in it and where it comes from.

Other ways include:
*Buying local eggs and meat from local farms
*Starting your own backyard flock
*Writing letters to the factory farms to tell them how to improve
Put the factory farmer’s chicken back on the shelf and help change the world one bite at a time by eating ethically / humanely raised chicken.


Here was a response to my school essay, posted by Marty Brett(mbrett@chicken.ca) of Chicken Farmers Canada . I will be sure to include this perspective in my paper. I see that my information about hormones and steroids needs to be researched more. I will do that. In the meantime here is what I found about beak trimming. This video is about egg layers not "bred for consumption", so maybe it is an issue of language? Maybe egg layers not broilers have their beaks trimmed?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV_rguq8Kw&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpbtBgLfl90&feature=player_embedded


From Marty Brett a chicken farmer in Canada. (thank you for taking the time to respond)

Here are some tidbits to help you provide a balanced essay for school. Most of the rules are the same in Canada and the U.S.

Raising Chicken in Canada
In the barn:
• Chickens in Canada are raised in clean, well-ventilated, climate-controlled barns, where they can roam freely.
• The chicken barn is heated before the chicks are placed, in order to ensure a warm, comfortable surrounding.
• Feed systems and water lines are checked daily to ensure that birds always have unrestricted access to food and water.
• The main ingredient of all chicken feed (88 per cent) is grains and grain by-products, protein-producing seeds, and meal made from them such as canola or soybean meal. So, essentially, all chickens are "grain-fed."
• Heating, ventilation, humidity and other environmental levels are verified constantly, often using top of the line technology, to ensure that the birds are comfortable and stress-free.
• Chickens bred for consumption in Canada do not have their beaks trimmed.

Health Care:
• Chickens are not given any hormones or steroids. Hormones and steroid use in Canada has been illegal since the 1960s.
• While medication, such as antibiotics, may occasionally be used to maintain the health of the flocks, their use is governed by very strict federal and provincial government regulations and is closely monitored. Antibiotics are sometimes used as a means of preventing illness and treating diseases.
• Chicken farmers in Canada are obligated to use 'flock sheets' to record all levels of any medications they may use in their flocks.
• Moreover, chicken is tested by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to ensure that there are absolutely no medication residues that could cause any risk to human health.

Hopefully, this will clear up the myth for you that Canadian (or U.S.) chickens are given hormones or steroids. That just isn't true.

For more on our birds and industry visit Chicken Farmers of Canada at www.chicken.ca.

Marty Brett
mbrett@chicken.ca