Factory farming practices, and in turn the consumption of 99% of meat, is unethical.
There are more than one hundred billion animals slaughtered in factory farms every single year. Beyond the sheer amount of death, the ways in which these animals are killed is entirely problematic.
Before even considering their death, the living conditions these animals are forced to endure throughout their lives needs to be exposed. Animals raised in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), experience high levels of stress, discomfort, and pain in the form of tail docking, tooth clipping, forced impregnation, and being kept in packed, inadequate conditions. Chickens, 10 billion of which are raised in factory farms every year, are not included in the United States Humane Slaughter Act which protects animals raised in CAFOs from “needless suffering.” Due to this, nothing legally prevents slaughterhouses from killing chickens in extremely brutal ways. However other CAFO livestock who are supposedly protected by this act, are not treated remotely humanely either. Both cows and pigs are often packed so tightly together they are unable to perform basic movements and functions. Their young are taken from them mere hours after they've given birth, and they rarely ever see sunlight. I have chosen not to describe in full, the true gruesome and heartless acts that CAFOS practice, though I believe choosing ignorance on this subject and continuing to eat meat is cowardly and unethical. Although a very sad read, to anyone eating animal farmed products, I recommend: Everything You Need to Know About Factory Farming.
A lot of people are under the impression that this information is not applicable to them, because they only purchase “ethically raised meat.” The sad truth is that humane meat doesn't really exist, at least in grocery stores. Because almost all meat comes from factory farms, an estimated 99%, it is near impossible to find what could actually be considered ethical meat in stores. While there is a scale from bad to worst when choosing meat, it is safe to assume that most meat you're seeing in grocery stores comes from a mistreated animal.
Not only are these farms incredibly unethical to animals, they are miserable for their workers. Those who work at CAFOs are exposed to toxic air pollutants, high risk of injury, and spread of disease. On average, employees of CAFOs who work for five years or more have a 50% chance of being injured while at work, according to Dangerous Working Conditions on Factory Farms. This is all without mentioning the psychological strain, and negative mental impact of working in these environments. The amount of death these workers are responsible for takes an extreme toll on mental health, and has left workers with PTSD and other forms of trauma.
Commercial farms see animals as a product, not the sentient beings that they are. Until animals are viewed as more than just the meat they will become, the justification of inhumane practices will continue. In purchasing meat from grocery stores, consumers are directly supporting the mistreatment of animals and workers.
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