Animals
What are some of the conditions that animals can be found living in while on feeding lots and in grow houses?
Standing in their own feces, cramped, no sunlight, no space to roam free
How does the food industry tempt our taste buds?
They make food extra sweet, salty and fatty.
What is an undocumented worker?
What kinds of foods are the cheapest? Why?
Unhealthy, fattening and sugar foods. They are heavily subsidized.
List three products that contain corn.
Ketchup, Coke, Motrin, Peanut Butter, Batteries, Packaged Processed Food, Jelly, Juice, Charcoal, Diapers, Kool-Aid, Sweet & Low, Fast Food
Due to ________, chickens in the grow houses cannot keep up with all the weight they are carrying so they often plop down and die.
rapid unnatural growth
What chemical is used in some meat to prevent E. coli contamination?
What are some other ways this chemical is used?
Ammonia; household cleaner; fertilizer; plastic production; pesticides; explosives
Why don't undocumented workers complain about the poor wages and horrible conditions at the CAFOs?
They have no other options and fear retaliation from their bosses (big corporations).
What is a Non-Communicable Disease?
Give a few examples.
A disease that is not passed from person to person, usually as a result of habit, diet and/or environment.
Cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), Cancer, Respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma) and Diabetes.
Cattle have evolved to eat grass. What problem has emerged as a result of feeding corn to cattle?
Cows get E. coli which leads to health issues.
Antibiotics
What is E.Coli and how does it find its way in our food?
E.Coli is a bacteria found in the intestines of animals and people.
On feeding lots, animals are fed a heavy diet of corn which encourages the growth of E.Coli. Cows stand ankle deep in their manure all day long. When they get to the slaughter house, their hide is "caked" in manure.
This is how its get in the meat.
Where do most of the undocumented workers who work on CAFOs come from?
Mexico
Why is eating healthier foods better than having to rely on medication in the long run?
If you eat healthier food, your chances of getting sick are minimized and thus you will not need medication.
Medication costs a lot of money and quickly eats away at income.
About 30% of the United States land mass is used to grow corn. Explain the role that government plays in making corn such a dominant crop.
The government subsidizes or pays farmers to over grow corn. It allows them to produce corn on a large scale, making corn its byproducts very cheap. Thus corn as a byproduct saturates the market.
CAFOS are intensive animal feeding lots where over 500 animals (cows, chickens, pigs etc.) are kept in inhospitable unsanitary conditions.
What does CAFO stand for?
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
There has been a noticeable increase in the frequency of food recalls in the last several years.
What is a food recall?
Describe how both government regulatory agencies are behind this problem.
A food recall is action that is taken to remove from sale, distribution and consumption foods which may pose a safety risk to consumers.
The FDA is poorly run. People in the government who are making the rules are also in the food industry. It's a conspiracy.
Vince Edwards, the chicken grower working for Tyson, was not given permission to allow the filmmakers inside his chicken house. Why?
Tyson doesn't want the truth to be seen!
Our food system favors "bad calories". Explain what "bad calories" are and how our food system encourages us to eat them.
Give an example of a "bad calorie" food.
"Bad calories" are calories that come from nutrient poor high caloric processed and fast foods. They are addictive, makes us sick and give us no nutrients.
These foods are heavily subsidized by the government.
Examples: Fast food (burgers, nuggets and fries), chips, soda, gummy bears, candy bars etc.
Corn has also been used as a sugar substitute in many processed foods. How is sugar from corn listed on an ingredient label?
High Fructose Syrup
Cows naturally eat ________ but on feeding lots they are fed __________ in order to fatten them up quicker.
Grass; Corn
Kevin Kowalcyk died in 2001 of hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by eating ground beef contaminated with E. coli.
What did the FDA fail to do that contributed to his death?
The meat he ate wasn't recalled immediately.
"The companies keep farmers under their thumb because of the debt the farmers have..."
What was the debt that Carole was referring to when she said this?
To build a chicken house is $280,000-$300,000 per house. Companies are constantly pushing farmers to spend more and more money on upgrades otherwise they lose their contract. Farmers only make about $18,000 a year.
This is how companies keep farmers in debt.
Explain how obesity, diabetes, and low income are linked.
When you are low income you are much more economically inclined to buy "bad calories", which are cheaper, which leads to obesity. When you are obese there is greater chance of acquiring diabetes.
What is a Farm bill and how does it impact how much corn is grown?
The farm bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. The farm bill is a package of legislation passed once every five years that has a tremendous impact on farming livelihoods, how food is grown, and what kinds of foods are grown.
The Farm Bill focuses largely on commodity crops like corn because it can be stored and it has many uses.