Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat

by Chloe Sorvino

A shocking and unputdownable exposé of the United States meat industry and the growing disappointment of alternative meat producers that “is required reading for anyone who eats” (Christopher Leonard, New York Timesbestselling author). Well before COVID-19 swept across the United States and the chairman of Tyson Foods infamously declared that the food supply chain was dangerously vulnerable, America’s meat industry was reaching a breaking point. Years of consolidation, price-fixing, and power grabs by elite industry insiders have harmed consumers and caused environmental destruction. And while that’s hurting us, it’s also making others rich. Now, financial journalist Chloe Sorvino presents a “deeply informed and eye-opening” (Publishers Weekly) look at the meat industry and its future as its fundamental weaknesses are laid bare for all to see. With unprecedented access and groundbreaking research, Raw Deal investigates corporate greed, how climate change will upend our food production, and the limitations of local movements challenging the status quo.

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Business, Journalism, Politics, Environment, Agriculture

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[David Agranoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t divorce my reading of this book from thirty years and five months since I decided to become vegan on January 31st, 1993. Many things have changed since then. Bill Clinton was just starting his presidency. The ultimate signs that I have been vegan a long damn time, are the growth of products (vegan cheese or the existence of dozens of brands) was unthinkable and I have adult co-workers who are legal teachers younger than my veganism.

The main reason I wanted to read this book relates to my inspiration to become vegan. In 1992 the straight-edge hardcore scene (essentially my tribe at the time) had plenty of vegans inspired by bands like Earth Crisis, Raid, Vegan Reich, and Outspoken. I had role models who were vegan but it was reading books. Diet for a New America by John Robbins, Animal Factories by Peter Singer, and Jim Mason. They didn’t just suggest the idea that eating animals was unethical but they were filled with facts and numbers that highlighted the scope of the industry and the destruction of the animal product industries. These books rule, they hold a special place on my shelf. The fact is they are as out of date as the Vegan Rella cheese we tried to convince ourselves was good in 1994.

When I became Vegan these books were important tools for changing lives. Now documentaries, like Meet Your Meat, Earthlings, Forks over Knives, and Cowspiracy, have inspired younger generations.

My hope was that Raw Deal would have updated facts. Written by Chole Sorvino who comes to the subject with her own bias. She and I are never going to agree, I respect huge swathes of this book but I can’t understand some conclusions she comes to.

I do think this book is important and should be read with some reservations and trigger warnings. Sorvino who covers food and drink for Forbes a magazine that describes itself as a leading source for reliable business news and financial information. So basically she writes for the ultimate capitalism about food so just understand that. She can’t deny how awful these industries are but, in the end, will twist herself in pretzels to find excuses to eat meat. I can’t understand how anyone can watch a video of a slaughterhouse and still be so heartless to eat this stuff but Chole Sorvino writes in graphic detail about directly killing animals with her own hand and then devotes part of the book explaining where she buys her meat. I can’t understand that at all. Maybe you can, but I can’t.

What are the good and important updates in this book? The clear and present danger that eating Animal products is for climate change is clear here. We knew in the 90s, but the facts updated here are important. 14.5 % of Greenhouse gas emissions come from Livestock production for one easy-to-digest fact. The amount of water and grain wasted has only gotten worse. This book highlights the sexual and physical toll the meat industry has on human workers, which should be no surprise coming from an industry that turns living, feeling being into plastic-wrapped products. There are a few updated facts like one from 2018 that showed climate change is making food less nutritious in general.

The information about lab-grown meat, something I have excepted as helpful against my better judgment is all good information. I found it interesting the length the Just Egg guy is going to keep control of his company. So yes this book has valuable stuff in Raw Deal.

The What-about-ism is strong when Sorvino tries and fails to make the supply issues of Impossible or Beyond comparable to meat in a negative light. Of course, we lived and ate vegan for a long time without those products and they could never be as destructive as food that has to consume as much grain, water, and pee/poop like meat products do.

Raw Deal is an important but at the same time problematic book in my personal opinion. I generally prefer at this point not to be combative about these issues and live by example. The fact is meat is murder not just in my head, but in my heart. I know I live behind enemy lines. This culture views non-human animals as products that can be sacrificed for taste buds. This is a conclusion reinforced by author Chole Sorvino. Any book about the meat industry that returns to that conclusion is ultimately a part of the problem. We can’t sustainably feed this planet meet and have future generations so we need books that don’t just give the fact but offer radical solutions.

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It more of a 4.5.
I believe if you are food eater and a consumer this very much applies to you. This was not what I expected and it was eye opening on so many levels.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author knows her stuff when it comes to the business of meat.

Here are some of my favorite clips:
Major changes to how we produce food - and specifically meat, since it commands outsize resources - are necessary.

According to a 2021 study published by NYU researchers, the largest meat producers in America have collectively blocked climate legislation that could limit their annual output, while six of the largest meat trade groups - NAMI, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Chicken Council, and International Dairy Foods Association, and the American Farm Bureau Federation and related state groups - have spent at least $200 million since 2000 on lobbying for climate related issues including cap-and-trade, the Clean Air Act, and GHG regulations.

America's industrialized production systems shunt $2 trillion annually in health and environmental costs to consumers and taxpayers (report from The Rockefeller Foundation).

Consumers have been trained to believe spending power can signal changing preferences and thereby shifts in demand. In reality, billionaires' whims are far more influential when it comes to deciding what food people can buy.

There is some power in sourcing food with a strict ethical code, especially if it's supporting alternative systems with fewer brokers and middlemen. The problem is figuring out which purveyors are worth the time.

Plant-based meats account for less than 1% of total US meat sales.

Local food is still just 1.5% of total agricultural output.

While farmers markets are heralded a an easy ay to directly support a farmer, they institutionalize and normalize the unprofitability of small-scale farming because of hidden costs like transportation and packaging.

What is good to eat?
Food that actively works to build stronger and healthier communities, with workers who are treated justly and have a seat at the table. What's grown isn't just okay for the environment. It's produced sustainably, with minimal inputs, and preferably in a way that replenishes the soil and encouraged biodiversity, without leaving behind waste and water pollution.

In Italy in 1976, masked gunmen kidnapped purveyors and threatened to kill them if meat prices didn't drop in working-class Roman neighborhoods.

In 2018, the UN published potential scenarios, and its BAU model has meat consumption increasing 50%, to 450 million tons annually, in the next three decades. It is almost entirely driven by a 23% production increase in China as well as a quadrupling of meat consumption in sub-Saharan Africa.

Per capita meat consumption in India is almost exactly the same as in 1961, less than 4 kg per person.

"The demand side of the equation is driving the discourse." - Alessia Apostolatos

There are few industries more consolidated than meatpacking.

Unlike monopoly, which describes producers, monopsony describes the buyers. In this case, that's retailers and other major operations that act as middlemen connecting producers with consumers. Like an oligopoly, which is when a seller's market is dominated by a handful of producers, there's also oligopsony, which is define as a buying market that is controlled by a small few.

Walmart is America's largest meat seller, and the bigger Walmart gets, the more it wants to deal with suppliers that are bigger, too. Unlike monopoly which describes producers, monopsony describes the buyers. In this case, that's retailers and other major operations that act as middlemen connecting producers with consumers. Like an oligopoly, which is when a seller's market is dominated by a handful of producers, there's also oligopsony, which is defined as a buying market that is controlled by a small few.

Slaughtering and processing jobs for decades have ranked among the highest for occupational rates of injury. In 2017, meatpacking workers were nearly twice as likely to get hurt and fifteen times as likely to contract a job-related illness as the average private-sector worker. Meatpacking is among the most dangerous jobs in America. According to OSHA, meatpacking workers have a high risk of developing serious musculoskeletal disorders, in addition to hearing loss from high noise levels and injuries from slippery floors and dangerous machinery. Amputations, crushed fingers or hands, burns, and blindness are common.

Most poultry workers' annual incomes come in right at the federal poverty level, around $25,000 a year (2015 report from Oxfam). In many poultry towns, thrift stores and food banks dominate local storefronts.

JBS stands for Jose Batista Sobrinho, the nearly 90 year old patriarch of the Batista family.

The annual dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico was the size of CT.

JBS's pork plant in Beardstown, IL kills almost 20,000 animals a day. A 2018 study ranking the country's top water polluters have named this 430,000 square foot plant, surrounded by waste lagoons, as among the country's worst. On an average day in 2017, the plant was responsible for more than 1,800 pounds of nitrogen landing in a tributary that leads to the Illinois river. That's the equivalent amount handled by a sewage system for a small city with a population of nearly 80,000.

Human activity is the primary cause of accelerated soil erosion, which threatenes nutrient and carbon cycling, land productivity and in turn, worldwide socioeconomic conditions.

Between 2001 and 2016, more than 11 million acres of farmland were lost to development. Moreover, the US loses nearly one billion metric tons of soil every year through erosion.

If a third of food wasn't wasted each year in the first place, 10 billion people could already be sustained.

One study found that 41 pounds of meat/poultry/fish were wasted per capita in America in 2010.

Nearly 70% of all cases of resistant staph infection came from workers exposed to livestock as farmers or slaughterhouse workers.

The US meatpacking industry employs about 500,000 people.

A 2018 study by the Washington University School of Medicine suggests that the death toll due to drug-resistant superbugs could be as high as 160,000 a year, which would make antibiotic resistance the fourth leading cause of death in the US.

In 2020, poultry received 2% of total antibiotics purchased. Cattle and hogs received 40%.

60% of antibiotics are added to feed. 30% are added to drinking water.

Tyson diverts the sick chickens to a specific sick hose where they will be fed antibiotics for treatment. Rather than discard those birds and create waste, birds that have been treated for illness with antibiotics end up being sold into the 'precooked' market, which supplies school lunches and prisons.

Amoxicillin, which is often given to people and animals, is released from bodies quickly. In humans, about 60% comes out in urine unchanged within about 6 hours. From the toilet, antibiotics might end up in a wastewater treatment plant, if the municipality is lucky enough to have one. The same holds true if a slaughterhouse has invested in its own. Plants treat wastewater only to regulatory standards which are minimal. The result: antibiotics often persist in reclaimed water.

When antibiotics seep into the ground, the soils store less carbon.

More than 60% of medically important antibiotics used in the US go to livestock, compared to 35% in humans.

Spending in the US treating antibiotic resistant infections alone is estimated at $5 billion annually.

A 2014 survey found that among farmers whose sole income is raising chickens, 71% live below the poverty line.

Injustice permeates the global food system.

Thoughtfully produced meat is often too expensive and hard to secure. Yet industrially produced meat is artificially cheap and plentiful where many need convenience. Institutions and decades of policy have encouraged this, which is why it can be overwhelming to source food in this system. It's set up to bend individuals' purchasing to the whim of corporations.

There's no such thing as good or bad food when you're starving. I can tell you right now that I don't agree with factory farming, and I can tall you that a family feeding themselves is not bad. - Sophia Roe

There's the idea that everybody going vegan will fix the issue. We have to be very mindful with that. Telling everyone in the world they need to go vegan, that's colonization, cultural erasure. We have to be really mindful about these black-and-which didactic answer to these big questions. - Sophia Roe

Anyone who claims they do know how much acreage 100% pastured beef could work on...call BS. We don't know yet.

3,900 producers exist in the US that finish grass-fed cattle. They bring to market 232,000 head of grass-fed cattle for slaughter each year, a tiny portion of the 30 million cattle slaughtered annually in the US.

Rangeland ecologist Allen Williams cited there that increasing the amount of cattle per acre by around a third, coupled with intensive adaptive, rotational grazing, would accommodate enough grass finished animals to replace all the grain-finished cattle in the US without using more land.

A completely grass-fed cattle system would increase America's methane emissions by 8% annually. Transitioning to an entirely grass-fed system would require the nation's cattle herd to increase 30% to one hundred million cattle. Pastureland can only support 27 million cattle.

Quality of meat depends on: Feed & genetics.

Most of the 9 billion chickens that Americans consume each year are the same kind of breed, a Cornish Cross. Breeding works like the movie Back to the Future. There's a great grandparent chicken, and then a grandparent, a parent, and then fourth generation Michael J Fox. That's the broker. It takes around 2.5 years to complete the cycle. Over time, like MJF disappearing from the picture in the movie as he travels back in time, adjustments can be made. Geneticists decide whether to prioritize traits like straighter legs or red tail feathers. Within a few weeks, their cousins arrive where they once existed.

Consumers cannot forget that everything comes from the ground. Food, drinks, wine, grain alcohol, weed. It needs to be grown. Industrialized ag has traded natural variation and phytonutrients from chemicals and systematic extraction. It has traded one industrialized food for another. If Beyond and Impossible's founders really do want to create the change they say they desperately want in the food system, that starts with the soil.

Mushrooms are also one of the most efficient kinds of protein to grow in terms of land use: 1 million pounds of mushrooms can grow on one acre.

If lab-grown meat uses traditional energy sources at scale, it would be worse than industrial meat production (Int Journal of Life Cycle Assessment).

The first living thing to emerge after that atomic blast of Hiroshima, matsutake mushroom.

Roughly $1 billion worth of food sells annually at farmers markets nationwide (compared with more than $1 trillion spent on food in America annually). Producers share the brunt of the cost of selling to farmers markets. Travel, staffing, prep, fees, etc.

Farmers' markets and other local outlets punch well above their weight in terms of social and cultural value, but this is fooling us into believing we're making more of an impact than we actually are, and that a rapidly consolidating food system backed by venture capital, entrenched interest, and the world's wealthiest corporations will somehow be displaced by this romance of neoliberal peasant farming.

Increasing access doesn't always increase adoption, especially when prices still aren't accessible, but democratizing access to farmers markets could be a start.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and pragmatic dive into commercial meat. I say pragmatic as this is not framed as an argument for vegetarianism, but rather how the oligopoly involved leads to market control, employee abuse, and even corruption in Brazil. Along the way, Temple Grandin is referred to, the American bison sold for meat is explored, better/healthier ways to produce poultry, and much is discussed about the working and financial motives of plant-based meat like that from Impossible Foods. We get told that grain-fed on a label does not infer the animal ever saw a pasture and how it could be a footnote to corporate sincerity when a food producer is not a public-benefit corporation. Also, will food someday be considered such a human right that it is treated like a utility or medical care?

Her topics of climate change, the feasibility of alternative proteins, impact of excessive use of antibiotics, hope in mushrooms, etc. can be heard on an interview with the author January 11, 20231:26 on Fresh Air.

[Lester Foo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do I think?
Wow, this book is stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving! Sorvino starts off with a history of the American meat industry and how it is plagued with problems before we even consider other issues like the use of antibiotics, meat accessibility and the existential threat that is climate change. While it is heartening to learn that there are many innovators pushing the boundaries of meat alternatives (e.g. plant-based, fungus, 3D-printing, lab-grown meat), scalability remains to be seen and it is hard to imagine how the meat on my plate will be replaced with such alternatives any time soon. These emerging technologies also come with their own sets of downsides, including ethical dilemmas (Google: fetal bovine serum in lab-grown meat). Sorvino does a great job with uncovering the issues with the meat industry (with vivid descriptions of her experience at slaughterhouses), but don’t expect detailed solutions to the problems. And I don’t blame her for that.

Who should read?
If you eat meat (I do…), you will learn of the impacts that come with delivering that steak to your plate. If you swear by alternative protein, you will learn of the challenges to make them scalable and accessible, and their own set of issues. This book offers you awareness, but don’t expect to change the world with your diet just yet.

[Trenton Buhr-Roschewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sorvino writes a strong book exploring the economics of our food system and the possibilities of alternatives. She gets into the thick of the entire supply chain, from seed to pantry, primarily for meat. It is a well researched and thorough expose, which can be overwhelming for the unfamiliar. As far as my perspective matters, I eat meat and come from a rural agricultural area of the Great Plains.

This is not an entry level book for those interested in the food system. It would be worth learning separately about meat packing consolidation, food supply chains, meat alternatives, the environmental impacts of commodity crops, and investment financing, among other things. I am familiar with most topics in the book, but have very little knowledge of corporate financing. As a result, much of her discussion in Section III, about alternatives to meat, went over my head.

While I agree with Sorvino’s ultimate conclusion that regional food structure is the ideal goal, for nutrition, economic, and social reasons, I have two concerns with her argument.

First, I think Sorvino spends too much time caring about how meat tastes. Perhaps this is her Manhattanite on display, but I do not believe that the average consumer of chicken breast or beef sirloin is selecting meat based on whether it tastes more like sage or sorghum. Taste is still important, and average consumers do care, but I think she places too much emphasis on it given its importance. How this factors into the best alternatives to industrial meat is not wholly clear to me.

Second, Sorvino largely ignores the geography of food production. This causes problems on two fronts. When considering how Americans get their food, it is difficult to comprehend how the Northeast Megalopolis could be fed regionally, let alone locally. In addition, a shift to regional production will have consequences for existing populations. Those changes will be good and bad for urbanites and rural people, but it is complicated. I think Sorvino could spend another book exploring the geographic outcomes of regionalism and meat alternatives.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this book, I’m even happier with my decision to reduce my meat consumption overall and limit my purchases to local farmers raising animals on pasture with no antibiotics. The book contains lots of depressing facts about “big meat” in particular and our food system in general. The corruption, greed, and injustice she exposes are not pretty. The author raises interesting questions including should food companies be for-profit entities? Are plant-based alternatives the answer? Are the right start ups getting the funding they need to succeed? There’s so much in here that the book either bogs down with excessive detail at points or touches so lightly on a subject that the reader is left wanting more. The complexity of the issues seems daunting, the power of an individual to do much about them limited. The prose seemed a little stiff, not very engaging. You have to really want to get the information to get through it. It’s worth it.

[Scott Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chloe does a great job at bringing a view of the meat industry. She really brings forward some of the pioneers that have and are trying to make change. It is a hill that we are climbing however we will look back in a few years and realize that she was pointing out all the issues that have been hanging over us for years. If you struggle with the current food model please read this as it is going to take a village to make change. Bravo on bringing this all together in one book.

A must read for those who want to make effective change.

S

[Barb Cherem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had gotten on to this book through an interview on NPR. The author has certainly "done her homework" and she is also such a moderate person without the zeal of any style of eating really; it's all about amount and frequency. But the local sourcing for trust in advertising and the denser nutrition of knowing how your food was raised was stressed which I liked. I though Chloe was very balanced and fair in her reporting. It had some most interesting disclosures of which I was not aware. It was a book worth reading certain parts in which you're most interested.

[Jane DeMarines · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a riveting book for anyone who eats meat or is concerned about climate change! Sorvino's experience as a food and agriculture reporter has led her to understand and root out a story that even vegans are transfixed by.
It is, as her title suggests, a tale of greed and corruption, and one the public deserves to know--especially those who continue to eat meat.
Our elected officials and regulators, especially at the federal level, should pay attention to this research.
Jane DeMarines
Exec Director
Climate Diet
Bethesda, MD 20816

[Teri L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reporting on the consolidation of the meat industry in the US and the Americas. It’s shocking how ugly big meat is and how few alternatives eaters have if they want to continue to eat meat. (This consolation is true of the entire food system.) But some of the author’s conclusions and recommendations are thrown out without much explanation or detail. This is a good introduction, however, for eaters who have not immersed themselves in the food system.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. I’ve been in the local, sustainable food world for two decades and knew a lot about this subject. However, the information and facts in this book from the last several years was astoundingly interesting and mostly new to me (the politics and business consolidation info).

If you eat, you need to read this book. I read part and listened to the audiobook for part. The narrator was very good.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book, especially about corporate meat monopolies, trusts, and monopsonies. It is deeply researched and strong investigative reporting. It has two major blind spots: a discussion of the ethics of eating meat beyond environmental factors, and a consideration of the interdigitation of the dairy industry with meat.

[Julie Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written like a textbook. It has several subtitles within it and some are quite disconnected to the information before it. I found it very boring. It is no secret that the meat industry is deplorable. While it offers interesting info, the book is basically ranting and complaining. She offers unrealistic options for a person to help the cause. :/

[Jes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took quite a bit to get through, both due to the density of some of the subjects, the subject matter, and the breadth of the issue and book. As it was this is an excellent and in depth broad course for everyone who is removed from food production in the US. It feels extremely important and necessary but it's difficult to rec.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and interesting look at entire industry from cattle farm through hitting the shelves through distribution, that will make you think twice about where you’re purchasing power. Also hard to read some of situations she found herself in as part of the research. Fascinating author discussion care of Read It and Eat book shop. Book 52 for 2025

[Verthandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horrifying!

But also in need of a structural edit. The book doesn't always feel like it hangs together or flows naturally.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be mandatory reading for anyone anchored in ag econ, rural development, food science, and food economics. Superb reading; excellent references and documentation.

[Emily Mellow]

Couldn't get into it

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important information, just so much of it!

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rating. So much information! A tough read.

[Jan Peregrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chloe Sorvino's 2023 book Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat assumes that meat is only highly processed, dead, animal flesh and that it's necessary for our health. This is not what I believe, from long experience and reflection, which made the book frustrating at times. At times I needed to skim or skip, such as for graphic descriptions of animal slaughter.

Sorvino writes for Forbes in food, drink, and agriculture, appears in a few other outlets, and has a newsletter called The Mind Feeder, as well as a website.

But she's not for the status quo. Here are the final lines of the book:

“We've been served up a raw deal. While meat corporations spend the coming decades testing their limits, it's time for transformative change to take hod.”She's talking about creating collective, community change for a more democratic, healthier, safer food system.

Even though her book recently came out, her research is necessarily a little dated in these tumultuous, post-pandemic times.

The current plant-based revolution is still young and may seem trendy to skeptics. We don't know if or what industrialized animal meat alternatives will stick, but Sorvino explores all the challengers, including pasture-fed, bison, lab-grown, industrialized and small plant-based, fermented, mushroom, and even soy-free chickens She visited Omaha Steaks and wolfed down a 36-ounce steak hours after viewing and participating in a slaughterhouse. Disgusting, but she at least chooses to eat only pasture-fed.

There's a lot of good information throughout, cautious optimism, skepticism, and insight for investors only interested in the profitability of new plant-based companies sprouting up. She advocates for public benefit corporations for their much better appeal to consumers who are concerned about where their meat comes from and how it impacts the environment and themselves.

The last part of the last chapter was the most interesting because she explained how making universal access to food and food itself a human right like education and health care are a human right would put more power into the community to provide good food rather than into corporations.

That's only a very brief summary of what's in the book. It's not always fun to read and is slightly dated, but the message is a good one...

Climate change requires a big change to our corrupt food system (that's thoroughly researched in the book) and giving access to everybody to good, localized food. It's a human right and President Biden needs to recognize it now.

[Jasmin Kern · Rating 2 out of 5]

The detailed account about corporate and government corruption in the meat industry was egregious and the most interesting in my opinion. The rest was mildly interesting and informative.