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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jack Norris
Read between
June 9 - June 14, 2020
Many products that boast “humanely produced” type labels come from animals who lived under somewhat better circumstances, but often the differences are negligible. And all of these animals usually go to the same slaughterhouses.
Likewise, the term “organic” doesn’t translate to “humanely produced.” A large percentage of organic animal foods come from animals who were raised on factory farms.
Vegans have lower cholesterol and less hypertension and are less likely to develop diabetes.
vegan diets require more attention to some nutrients like vitamin B12 and iron.
A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.
Although the practices vary among different types of farms, confinement, mutilation, and selective breeding are common approaches for production of all of the commonly consumed animal foods: eggs, chicken, pork, milk, and beef.
While the words “cage-free” may conjure up an image of happy hens scratching around the barnyard, most are housed in huge buildings with no access to the outdoors. And regardless of how they are housed, because they are bred to produce eggs at an unusually high rate, both caged and cage-free hens are at risk for a prolapsed uterus.
On one farm, “spent” hens were tossed, while conscious, into a wood chipper for disposal. But the most common legal means of killing these hens is by carbon dioxide gassing using gas concentrations of 30 percent or more. Research has shown that at this level, birds feel pain and distress, probably associated with suffocation.
In 2013 the Newburyport News in Newbury, Massachusetts, reported on strange noises coming from a local dairy farm. The reporter shared that “According to Newbury police Sergeant Patty Fisher, the noises are coming from mother cows who are lamenting the separation from their calves.”
A direct outgrowth of dairy farming, veal farming is a way to turn unneeded calves into meat and money.
A common thread in animal food production is that most of these animals never see the outdoors until they are loaded onto a truck bound for the slaughterhouse.
(Grass-fed refers only to what cows eat; not where they eat it.)
One estimate is that as much as 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are used on farmed animals, and this may contribute to antibiotic resistant bacteria. In fact the very air around feedlots has been found to contain DNA that codes for antibiotic resistance.
But all farmed animals, unless they die from starvation, thirst, infections, or injury on the farm, are eventually sent to the slaughterhouse.
It is legal to transport cows and pigs for up to twenty-eight hours without providing food or water. For chickens and turkeys, there is no limit on how long they can be held on trucks.
About 15 percent of calves are slaughtered when they are just a few days or weeks old for “bob veal.”
The American Meat Institute considers a 95-percent stun rate acceptable, and research suggests that between 95 and 99 percent of animals are stunned with the first shot.18 But the fact that “only” 1 to 5 percent of cows are insufficiently stunned on the first try means that as many 345,000 to 1.7 million cows per year must be stunned more than once—or they remain conscious during at least part of the slaughter process.19
Fast line speeds at the slaughterhouse are typically to blame for the fact that animals are often conscious as they move down the line. Workers are under too much pressure to keep the line moving and cannot take the time to worry about a still-conscious animal who has slipped by.
USDA data shows that as many as a half-million chickens and turkeys each year are still alive as they drown in near boiling water.
Estimates are that more than 5,000 hogs and 3.4 million chickens and turkeys drowned, many of them presumably imprisoned in their crates.
Most slaughterhouse workers are people of color living in low-income communities or are immigrants from Latin America. Some are undocumented and are unable to report injuries or seek medical care or report harassment and violations in the workplace for fear of being deported or losing their job. Like exploitation and inhumane treatment of animals, the exploitation of slaughterhouse workers helps keep the cost of animal foods low and production high.
Three labels that suggest better treatment of animals on farms, and sometimes during transport, are “GAP-Certified” (which is associated with Whole Foods Markets), “Certified Humane,” and “Animal Welfare Approved,” but none of these labels cover all animals and/or all aspects of production. It’s also easy to get confused. For example, the “American Humane Certified” label is not associated with better welfare for animals. You’ll see this label on pork that may have come from a farm that uses gestation crates and on cartons of eggs from caged hens.22 Terms like “all-natural,” “free range,”
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For most products touted as “humanely produced,” cruelty lurks behind the cheerful label. Even if free-range dairy farms provide better treatment for cows, their male calves are still taken from their mothers within hours of birth and sold for veal production. Chickens in cage-free facilities can spread their wings, but they still spend their entire lives packed by the tens of thousands into windowless warehouses. The male chicks are still killed at birth and the females are debeaked. They go to the same slaughterhouses as caged chickens.
British psychologist Richard Ryder answered that question in 1970 when he coined the term “speciesism,” which was later popularized by Princeton University philosopher Dr. Peter Singer in his 1975 book Animal Liberation.25 Singer wrote that just as “racists violate the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of members of their own race, speciesists allow the interests of their own species to override the greater interests of members of other species.”
Every year, 10 billion animals are killed to feed the demand for beef, pork, chicken, eggs, milk, and cheese in the United States. It’s impossible to wrap your brain around those numbers and most of us don’t even want to try to imagine all of that suffering.
Two human activities that contribute significantly to global warming are the burning of fossil fuels and agriculture.
While all agriculture contributes to global warming, eating plant foods instead of animal products is one important way to shrink your carbon footprint.
Back in 1971, author Frances Moore Lappé calculated the true cost of meat production in her seminal book Diet for a Small Planet.27 She coined the phrase “protein factory in reverse” to describe the wasteful process of meat production and its toll on land, fuel, and water. Specifically, she showed that there is more protein and energy in the grains and beans fed to farmed animals than in the meat, eggs, and milk that they produce. The excess protein and calories that the animals ingest ends up supporting their energy needs and contributing to growth of body parts that humans don’t consume.
But it’s not humans who are eating those soybeans from the rainforest—the beans are processed into animal feed and shipped off to dairy, hog, and chicken farms and to cattle feedlots. If we ate these beans directly instead of funneling them through the “protein factory in reverse” of animal agriculture, we’d be able to grow enough on far less land.28 Eating soyfoods doesn’t destroy the Amazon, it helps save it.
By one estimate, it takes almost three times as much water and thirteen times as much fertilizer to produce food for a meat-eater compared to a vegetarian.29
In North Carolina, hog farms produce nearly ten billion gallons of feces and urine per year. The farms are often located near low-income communities of color who don’t have the financial clout to mobilize against the farms, making this a case of environmental racism and an important social justice issue. Exposure to the manure that permeates the air is linked to birth defects, asthma, and foodborne illness.
Since fossil fuel is a major contributor to global warming, it might seem like eating locally is the best approach to dietary choice. But most carbon emissions related to food are due to production, not transportation.
One group of researchers suggests that a simple change, replacing beef in American diets with beans, could help the United States meet up to 75 percent of its GHG reduction goals.
The impacts of our dietary habits are felt by those around the globe who have few choices about what they will eat, are the most vulnerable to food and water shortages, and who also have the fewest resources to respond to climate change. It means that those of us who do have a choice about what we will eat are in a uniquely privileged position—we have the opportunity, with every bite of food we take, to make a difference for farmed animals and for the rest of the people living on this planet.
It’s true that you won’t feel well on your vegan diet if you’re falling short of vitamin D or vitamin B12 or not getting enough protein or fat.
Vegan diets are associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
A vegan diet always works because it always reduces your contribution to animal exploitation and shrinks your carbon footprint.
They are super nutritious foods and among the world’s cheapest and most abundant sources of protein. That’s why beans have played a role in the diets of nearly every culture.
If you find it difficult to eliminate certain animal products from meals, it’s possible that what you’re really struggling with is umami.
Ingredients that are high in umami include ripe tomatoes and concentrated tomato products like tomato paste, ketchup, and sun-dried tomatoes; wine; fermented soy products such as miso and tamari; concentrated yeast products such as Marmite and nutritional yeast; umeboshi plums and umeboshi vinegar; sauerkraut; balsamic vinegar; olives; dried mushrooms; and dried sea vegetables.
Aquafaba is the liquid from canned chickpeas. With a similar consistency to raw egg whites, this liquid can be whipped to create meringues, toppings for pies, and even homemade marshmallows and can be used as a substitute in baking.
Today, recommendations for individual nutrients are overseen by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (referred to in this book as the National Academies). While these are official recommendations, the science behind them is sometimes still not entirely settled. In some cases, there isn’t enough research for anything more than an educated guess. And actual individual requirements are affected by lifestyle, overall diet, and genetics, which means that it’s impossible to pin down the exact nutrient requirements of any one person.
Protein requirements are believed to be slightly higher because plant protein isn’t digested quite as well as protein from animals. It’s a small difference and it’s easily satisfied with vegan diets as long as calorie needs are met and your diet includes high-protein plant foods. Zinc needs may also be higher, and it’s possible that some vegans have intakes that are less than optimal.
The situation for iron is a little more controversial. We’ll see that vegans have higher requirements but how much higher is a subject of some debate. We’ve included the National Academies recommendations for iron in the chart here, but we don’t think that vegans should worry too much about getting this much iron. We’ll talk much more about this issue in Chapter 8.
Studies show that vegans are likely to consume more of certain nutrients—vitamin C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, and sometimes iron—than omnivores.1 In contrast, many vegans have intakes of calcium and zinc that are lower than the recommendations.
With the exception of vitamin B12, it’s possible to get all of the vitamins and minerals you need from plant foods and sunshine (for vitamin D). Depending on individual circumstances, though, vitamin supplements can provide an important way to meet nutrient needs, especially for vitamin D, iodine, calcium, and omega-3 fats.
The US Pharmacopeia (USP) verifies the quality, purity, and potency of dietary supplements for companies that take part in their certification program. Supplements that display the “Dietary Supplement USP Verified” mark on labels have been tested to verify that they dissolve properly. (Vitamin and mineral supplements that don’t carry the USP symbol may still be of high quality; it just means they haven’t been certified.) Other independent organizations that offer similar guarantees are ConsumerLab.com and NSF International.
While a multivitamin can provide a number of these nutrients all at once, taking them as separate supplements will allow you to take only the supplements you need.
For example, high doses of zinc can inhibit copper absorption. Taking 50 milligrams of zinc per day (the RDA for vegans is 12 to 16 milligrams) can cause a copper deficiency in just a few short weeks. This is one reason to rely on a well-balanced diet to provide enough nutrients, using supplements to make up for any shortfall.
The DVs serve as a general guide to help you determine which foods are good sources of certain nutrients. A food that provides at least 20 percent of the DV for any nutrient can be considered a good source. These food labels can also guide you toward limiting foods that are high in things you want to avoid. A good rule of thumb is to aim for foods that provide 5 percent or less of the DV for saturated fat and sodium.
