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The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America's Food Supply
"We have given up to the agribusiness corporations a crucial part of our responsibility as human beings and we must now think of ways to take it back."
- Wendell Berry, from the Foreword
In this eye-opening book, Sierra Club Director Ken Midkiff exposes the dangers posed by corporate control of agriculture (agribusiness)--to our health, and to the health of the nation's economy, security, and the environment.
The Meat You Eat explores the current practices of the corporations taking over the raising and slaughtering of farm animals (and farmed fish, such as salmon). These companies use a model that has transformed livestock farming from quality-driven family-owned operations into big businesses concerned with volume, efficiency, uniformity, and profits above all. Midkiff reveals the true cost of agribusiness on all levels-environmental, financial, moral, legal, and medical-balancing startling truths with practical solutions.
Rather than advocate a vegan or vegetarian diet, Midkiff argues that using and supporting local farmers will improve the quality of life for us all, as well as for the animals whose meat we eat. Complete with resource sections about where to find local farmers and lists of agribusiness culprits, the book encourages us to take an active interest in what we put on our plates and in our mouths, and use the power of our pocketbooks to make it clear that our health, our environment, and our communities are of vital importance.
With a foreword by Wendell Berry, hailed by The New York Times Books Review as the "great moral essayist of our day," The Meat You Eat is an informative and ringing call to arms.
- Wendell Berry, from the Foreword
In this eye-opening book, Sierra Club Director Ken Midkiff exposes the dangers posed by corporate control of agriculture (agribusiness)--to our health, and to the health of the nation's economy, security, and the environment.
The Meat You Eat explores the current practices of the corporations taking over the raising and slaughtering of farm animals (and farmed fish, such as salmon). These companies use a model that has transformed livestock farming from quality-driven family-owned operations into big businesses concerned with volume, efficiency, uniformity, and profits above all. Midkiff reveals the true cost of agribusiness on all levels-environmental, financial, moral, legal, and medical-balancing startling truths with practical solutions.
Rather than advocate a vegan or vegetarian diet, Midkiff argues that using and supporting local farmers will improve the quality of life for us all, as well as for the animals whose meat we eat. Complete with resource sections about where to find local farmers and lists of agribusiness culprits, the book encourages us to take an active interest in what we put on our plates and in our mouths, and use the power of our pocketbooks to make it clear that our health, our environment, and our communities are of vital importance.
With a foreword by Wendell Berry, hailed by The New York Times Books Review as the "great moral essayist of our day," The Meat You Eat is an informative and ringing call to arms.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2004
6 people are currently reading
200 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 7, 2024
I ate this book up. I'm finally convinced to stay as far away as possible from meat produced by big business. Not that I wasn't against their practices before, but this book gives me (and everyone) extremely good reasons to support small farms.
Some of the information is ever so slightly outdated, but he gives so many references that it's easy to update it on your own.
Some of the information is ever so slightly outdated, but he gives so many references that it's easy to update it on your own.
December 6, 2017
I understand and agree with the basic premise of the book: we should treat animals better even if we're going to eat them. However the book is built upon largely anecdotal evidence and has a weak bibliography backing up its claims. There must be a better book that explores this issue.
March 10, 2009
Like other reviewers have stated, this book doesn't pull any punches. Midkiff lays out the horrors perpetrated by agribusiness (ethical, economic, environmental, medical) and the government's complicity therein. This essentially reads like Upton Sinclair's The Jungle for the modern era, only the objective here isn't solely to illustrate the plight of the workers. The difference here is that the industrial food system has gotten to the point that in the production of animal "units" for human consumption, everyone suffers. Midkiff does an excellent job of making this point clear. The system is unsustainable.
One of the aspects of this book I particularly appreciated was the lack of political bias. Whether you're an animal rights activist or a farmer stripped of your livelihood by a feedlot or slaughterhouse, this book is for you. Midkiff says that he hasn't set out to write a book advocating vegetarianism or veganism, but to promote the support of small, sustainable farms and locally-grown meats. However, if you're looking for a reason to stop eating meat entirely, this book will certainly convince you. I myself will continue to be an omnivore, though I'm definitely going to find some alternative sources of meat and eggs in my area as soon as possible (Appendix B has a list of contact information for finding farmers' markets in each state).
I'm only giving this four stars becase Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma did an excellent job of taking a broader look at industrial food, including the menace of corn monoculture and industrial organic farming, compared to which the scope of Midkiff's work seems a little limited. However, this book is an excellent companion to Omnivore's Dilemma and I suggest you read them both.
Now if only I could figure out what to have for lunch today that won't make me feel unclean.
One of the aspects of this book I particularly appreciated was the lack of political bias. Whether you're an animal rights activist or a farmer stripped of your livelihood by a feedlot or slaughterhouse, this book is for you. Midkiff says that he hasn't set out to write a book advocating vegetarianism or veganism, but to promote the support of small, sustainable farms and locally-grown meats. However, if you're looking for a reason to stop eating meat entirely, this book will certainly convince you. I myself will continue to be an omnivore, though I'm definitely going to find some alternative sources of meat and eggs in my area as soon as possible (Appendix B has a list of contact information for finding farmers' markets in each state).
I'm only giving this four stars becase Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma did an excellent job of taking a broader look at industrial food, including the menace of corn monoculture and industrial organic farming, compared to which the scope of Midkiff's work seems a little limited. However, this book is an excellent companion to Omnivore's Dilemma and I suggest you read them both.
Now if only I could figure out what to have for lunch today that won't make me feel unclean.
June 26, 2008
Really good.
Extremely effective if you were hoping to move towards a more vegan diet, or if you needed an excuse to start paying a "fair"/"realistic" price for meat/eggs/milk/fish at local farmer's markets or organic grocery stores. This book emphasizes sustainability and putting your money where your mouth is.
It's full of information that you likely don't know. Like about how ground beef isn't checked to make sure it's free from bacteria/diseases, whereas other cuts of meat are. Information about lots of different chemicals that are fed to animals as appetite-enhancers (like arsenic and doses of antibacterial medicines). And yes, there are some stomach-wrenching descriptions.
Provides other information about how A&M colleges in all 50 states are basically set up to provide workers for large factory farming corporations. And about the difference between the Farm Bureau claims to do and what it actually does. About various legislations that have been passed and who benefited from them.
And lots of about the environmental impact of the runoff from huge "farming" operations and how it negatively impacts the surrounding areas -- including someplace near you.
Extremely effective if you were hoping to move towards a more vegan diet, or if you needed an excuse to start paying a "fair"/"realistic" price for meat/eggs/milk/fish at local farmer's markets or organic grocery stores. This book emphasizes sustainability and putting your money where your mouth is.
It's full of information that you likely don't know. Like about how ground beef isn't checked to make sure it's free from bacteria/diseases, whereas other cuts of meat are. Information about lots of different chemicals that are fed to animals as appetite-enhancers (like arsenic and doses of antibacterial medicines). And yes, there are some stomach-wrenching descriptions.
Provides other information about how A&M colleges in all 50 states are basically set up to provide workers for large factory farming corporations. And about the difference between the Farm Bureau claims to do and what it actually does. About various legislations that have been passed and who benefited from them.
And lots of about the environmental impact of the runoff from huge "farming" operations and how it negatively impacts the surrounding areas -- including someplace near you.
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October 27, 2008A sweeping look at humanity’s deep-rooted anxiety about the future of food. People have expressed their worries about the future of the food supply in myriad ways, and here Belasco explores a fascinating array of material ranging over 200 years. After placing food issues in historical context, he provides a framework for understanding the future of food today — when new prophets warn us against complacency at the same time that new technologies offer promising solutions.
November 7, 2008
Not really anything new here, but the book does approach criticism of the agribusiness industry in a simplistic manner that's easy for anyone to understand. My review may have been different had I not first read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which I think does a better job of explaining ramifications of the industry.
Midkiff does focus on meat, and many of the processing details that I had forgotten from Fast Food Nation, which were nice to review.
Midkiff does focus on meat, and many of the processing details that I had forgotten from Fast Food Nation, which were nice to review.
May 10, 2012
This book was very informative yet very biased at the same time. I expected nothing less then proving how wrong the meat industry is. Only telling horror stories of meat packing plants and how they effect locals around them is what Midkiff does best! I would start to skin through the first couple of pages of each chapter because I was sick of the sob stories he kept repeating. Some of my views on the meat industry has changed but I also plan to do my own research and form my own opinions too.
September 7, 2008
A really good book on meat commercially produced in the US and how it is handled, and how this production effects our way of life. This is not a radical book written by vegans but an honest journalistic look at the US meat industry. It goes well with the latest ideas of moving back to small farmers and the more community based farming and organic practices.
March 3, 2011
I ate this book up. I'm finally convinced to stay as far away as possible from meat produced by big business. Not that I wasn't against their practices before, but this book gives me (and everyone) extremely good reasons to support small farms.
Some of the information is ever so slightly outdated, but he gives so many references that it's easy to update it on your own.
Some of the information is ever so slightly outdated, but he gives so many references that it's easy to update it on your own.
July 28, 2008
Freaky and annoying. . . I get fired up because I work with the farm bill and cost-share. My restoration and watershed improvement projects are put on hold so that huge swimming pools of poop can be subsidized. Sad!
December 26, 2008
Very well written... occasionally redundant, but a good balance of info from USDA, other "authorities" and actual farmers. Midkiff spares no details and does not present a "rose-colored glasses" version, which is what the American people need to hear and read.
September 10, 2010
Eye-opening to a whole cycle of wrong-doing, from inhumane behavior to pollution to dirty politics. I'll be trying to support local and family farms when I eat meat! Would've scored 5 stars if it'd been slightly better written and edited.
May 9, 2011
Very informative, if you aren't steeped in the local/organic food movement. I especially liked that it wasn't a vegan book, but a book about making better food choices between factory-farmed meat and meat that was raised sustainably. Slaughterhouse descriptions worthy of The Jungle.
August 31, 2011
I liked the tone of this one. The word "shit" is used when it's appropriate. The author isn't trying to dance around and protect my delicate sensibilities, he's presenting his argument and doing so fairly well.
January 28, 2008
If you enjoyed "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, you'll definitely get a lot out of this book.
November 26, 2007
frightening detail about mad cow disease... did not stop me from eating beef.
January 15, 2008
Great account of the modern meat industry--very easy to read and good narrative storytelling.
February 14, 2008
A very up-to date look at factory farms...and the meat you eat.
November 27, 2009
A good education.
November 1, 2011
didnt get to finish
August 15, 2013
Everyone should read this.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews