Global Meat Winders, Bill; Ransom, Elizabeth; Howard, Phil ...
10/2019
eBook
Open access
The growth of the global meat industry and the implications for climate change, food insecurity, workers' rights, the treatment of animals, and other issues.
Global meat production and consumption ...have risen sharply and steadily over the past five decades, with per capita meat consumption almost doubling since 1960. The expanding global meat industry, meanwhile, driven by new trade policies and fueled by government subsidies, is dominated by just a few corporate giants. Industrial farming—the intensive production of animals and fish—has spread across the globe. Millions of acres of land are now used for pastures, feed crops, and animal waste reservoirs. Drawing on concrete examples, the contributors to Global Meat explore the implications of the rise of a global meat industry for a range of social and environmental issues, including climate change, clean water supplies, hunger, workers' rights, and the treatment of animals.
Three themes emerge from their discussions: the role of government and corporations in shaping the structure of the global meat industry; the paradox of simultaneous rising meat production and greater food insecurity; and the industry's contribution to social and environmental injustice. Contributors address such specific topics as the dramatic increase in pork production and consumption in China; land management by small-scale cattle farmers in the Amazon; the effect on the climate of rising greenhouse gas emissions from cattle raised for meat; and the tensions between economic development and animal welfare.
Contributors
Conner Bailey, Robert M. Chiles, Celize Christy, Riva C. H. Denny, Carrie Freshour, Philip H. Howard, Elizabeth Ransom, Tom Rudel, Mindi Schneider, Nhuong Tran, Bill Winders
This is an account of industrialized killing from a participant's point of view. The author, political scientist Timothy Pachirat, was employed undercover for five months in a Great Plains ...slaughterhouse where 2,500 cattle were killed per day-one every twelve seconds. Working in the cooler as a liver hanger, in the chutes as a cattle driver, and on the kill floor as a food-safety quality-control worker, Pachirat experienced firsthand the realities of the work of killing in modern society. He uses those experiences to explore not only the slaughter industry but also how, as a society, we facilitate violent labor and hide away that which is too repugnant to contemplate.
Through his vivid narrative and ethnographic approach, Pachirat brings to life massive, routine killing from the perspective of those who take part in it. He shows how surveillance and sequestration operate within the slaughterhouse and in its interactions with the community at large. He also considers how society is organized to distance and hide uncomfortable realities from view. With much to say about issues ranging from the sociology of violence and modern food production to animal rights and welfare,Every Twelve Secondsis an important and disturbing work.
A monograph on the social history of meat in Poland under the Communist regime (1945–1989). Based on an extensive archival research, which included the records of state institutions and the Communist ...party, the authors trace back the social and economic aspects of the production and circulation of meat in this period. They analyze, among other things, the problem political interventions into the meat economy in post-war Poland; abuses in meat trade, subjected to severe punishments including death; or the role of meat in the everyday life of Polish families. The dissatisfaction with shortages of meat products emerges as an immanent feature of Polish everyday life until 1989, often resulting in social unrest and becoming a popular theme of rumors and political jokes.
The analysis of meat and its place in Western culture has been central to Human-Animal Studies as a field. Meat Culture brings into focus urgent critiques of hegemonic 'meat culture', animal farming ...and the wider animal industrial complex.
Meat and meat-based products play an important role as foods in the diets of people around the world. However, environmental and social issues have posed a challenge to meat production processing ...plants, with the advent of more consumer conscious production values across the food processing industry and a changing attitude among some communities towards the consumption of products from animal origin. The development of meat science and technology has brought solutions that allow the consumption of meat in a greater proportion from the source. Traditional processes such as salting, smoking, and fermentation have been refined, and, more recently, processes such as emulsification, marinating, and tenderizing of meat, have further diversified meat products. Meat processing technology is also required to meet consumer expectations and demands for nutritious and safe food. Consumer requirements have pushed for need for adaptation and modernization of slaughterhouses, as well as the use of more suitable processing technologies for saving water, energy, and reducing waste production, all while trying to provide a high level of nutritional, sensory, and food-safety for consumers.Advances in Meat Processing Technologies aims to inform students, researchers, lecturers and others who are interested in the subject, about new meat and meat-based product processing technologies. The handbook covers a variety of meat processing technologies including dry fermentation, meat emulsification, curing, marinating, restructuring and processing of non-emulsified meat and meat analogues. Additional chapters cover the use of additives and ultrasound technology in meat processing as well as different strategies suitable for meat processing operations. The simple, topical presentation of the book, which covers a wide variety of products makes the book a key reference for
informing students, researchers, lecturers, professionals and general readers who are interested in the subject of meat processing technology.
Meatsplaining Hannan, Jason; Nibert, David
10/2020
eBook
The animal agriculture industry, like other profit-driven
industries, aggressively seeks to shield itself from public
scrutiny. To that end, it uses a distinct set of rhetorical
strategies to deflect ...criticism. These tactics are fundamental to
modern animal agriculture but have long evaded critical analysis.
In this collection, academic and activist contributors investigate
the many forms of denialism perpetuated by the animal agriculture
industry. What strategies does the industry use to avoid questions
about its inhumane treatment of animals and its impact on the
environment and public health? What narratives, myths and fantasies
does it promote to sustain its image in the public imagination?
'powerful, timely and essential' - David Nibert, author
of Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration,
Capitalism, and Global Conflict
' Meatsplaining equips us to identify the lies at the
heart of animal agriculture. It's an excellent and timely
compilation on an exceedingly vexing problem.' - Carol J.
Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat and
Burger
' Meatsplaining is the first book to give an apt name to
the animal agriculture industry's relentless campaign of
disinformation and denialism … Written in a clear, lively, and
accessible style, Meatsplaining will surely educate the
public about the horrors of animal agriculture.' - Marc
Bekoff, author of The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and
Coexistence in the Human Age
'Cruelty thrives in secrecy, and the meat industry is highly
skilled at concealing the routine abuse and misery that flourishes
on modern farms. Meatsplaining cuts through the spin, and
exposes the meat industry's massive PR machine. It explores how Big
Meat uses language, obfuscation, and denial to misdirect the
public's attention away from its commodification of sentient
animals, environmental devastation, and the looming health crisis
caused by eating animals. This book is a must-read for animal
advocates, and anyone else who no longer wants to be lied to.' -
Camille Labchuk, Executive Director, Animal
Justice
'This book … provides a necessary corrective to the fantasy
world created by meat industry propaganda. As we grapple with a
global zoonotic pandemic and biodiversity crisis, it is urgent for
us to … start thinking clearly about who and what is on our
plates.' - John Sorenson, Brock University
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